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^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. ^^7^ 
Shelf _ r^>S/ 

S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ 




-^ i^^^..:Z^ 



PEOPLE'S EDITION. 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

OF 

ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

FROM HIS BIRTH TO THE PRESENT TIME, 

AND 

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

HON. HENRY WILSON. 

BY 

Q^^. CHARLES A. PHELPS. 



Lf-li^ 



(Smhllisljib feiitlj a Steel |3ortralt, anb J^our |Uustratioit6 

FROM DESIGNS BY HAMMATT BILLINGS. 



BOSTON: 

LEE AND SHEPAKD, PUBLISHERS. 

NEW YORK: 

LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM. 

1872. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 

By CHARLES A. PHELPS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washingtoa. 



^ 



PREFACE 

TO THE PRESENT EDITION, 



A COMPLETE history of President Grant's ad- 
ministration must be reserved until its close, and 
for a larger volume. The present work contains 
the War record of General Grant, and the lead- 
ing events of his first Presidential term. The at- 
tempt has been made to portray the character of 
the Man in each period of his career to the pres- 
ent time. To this has been appended a Biograph- 
ical Sketch of Hon. Henry Wilson. 

C. A. P. 

August, 1872. 



" I care nothing for promotion, so long as our arms are soccessful." 

Grant to Sherman, Feb., 1862. 

" If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not wish 
in any way to impede tlie success of our arms." 

Grant to Ilalkck, Feb. G, 1S62. 

" No theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing in 
good faith any order I may receive from those in authority over me." 

Grant to Secretary Chase, July, 18G3. 

" I shall have no policy of my own to enforce against the will of the 

people." 

Grant, May 29, 1868. 

" Human liberty the only true foundation of human government." 

Grant's Letter to Citizens of Memphis. 

"Let us have Peace." 

Grant's Letter, May 29, 1808. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 

PAGE. 

Birth and Ancestors. — Family History. — Origin of his Name. — 
Anecdotes of his Boyliood. — Desire for an Education. — Cir- 
cumstances attending his Appointment as Cadet at West Point. 
— Peculiarities of his Education there. — Education not always 
Wisdom. — Graduates. — Enters the Army. — Serves through 
the Mexican War. — His Gratitude to a Benefactor ... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. — BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

Returns to the United States. — Stationed in California and Ore- 
gon. — Removal to St. Louis. — Marriage. — Farming. — 
Removal to Galena, 111. — Attack on Fort Sumter. — The 
Flag. — Majestic Uprising of the People. — Relinquishes Busi- 
ness to commence recruiting. — Offers his Services to the 
State. — Acts as Adjutant-General. — Gov. Yates's Descrip- 
tion of Grant. — Appoints him Colonel. — Appointed Briga- 
dier-General. — In Command at Cairo. — Takes Paducah. — 
Account of Grant's Life and Habits by the Chaplain of the 
Regiment. — Battle of Belmont 11 



vi Contents. 

CHAPTER III. 

FORT HENRY. 

Fremont's Order confiscating Slaves. — Revoked by President Lin- 
coln. — Halletk supersedes Fremont. — Ilalleck's Order No. 3. 

— Fort Henry described. — Asks rerinission to attack tlic Fort. 

— Is refused. — Aided by Commodore Foote. — Permission 
given. — Grant's Energy. — Drawing the Fire of the Fort. — 
Anecdote of Foote. — The Gunboats. — The Attack. — Recep- 
tion of the old Flag in Tennessee. — Decides to attack Fort 
Donelson without Orders 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 

Fort Donelson. — Its Strength. — " The March of the Army." — 
The Bivouac. — Atta(k of the Gunlioats. — Interview between 
Foote and Grant. — Battle nearly lost. — Anecdote of Dessaix. 

— Smith ordered to charge. — The Enemy attempt to escape. 

— Grant and Empty Haversacks. — Grant explains his Plans. 

— Napoleon at Austerlitz. — Intelligence of Amcri, an Sol- 
diers. — Brilliant Charge of Smith. — His Appearance. — Nel- 
son. — Floyd in iMidnight Conclave. — Slave's Visit at Night to 
Grant's Hut. — Cambrone. — Flight of Floyd and Pillow. — 
Correspondence of Buckner and Grant. — Unconditional Sur- 
render. — Stanton's Letter. — Scenes in the Army and in the 
North contrasted 34 

CHAPTER V. 

BATTLE OF 8UILOB. 

Effects of Capture of Fort Donelson. — Beginning of Friendship 
between Grant and Sherman. — Grant censured l)y Halleck. — 
Grant presented with a Sword. — Description of the Field of 
Shiloh. — Battle of Shiloh. — Advance of Bucll. — Beaure- 
gard's Promise. — Sherman's Bravery. — Grant on the Field. 

— Anecdote as to retreating. — Final Repulse of the Enemy. 

— Grant's Poetry. — Grant's Theory about Battles. — Fearful 
Carnage. — Sufferings of a Battle ; by what produced . . 50 



Contents. vii 

CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING. 

Night before the Eattle. — Blessings of Sleep. — Opening of the 
Battle. — Beauregard. — View of the Rebel Army. — The 
Enemy driven. — Grant leads the Final Charge. — The En- 
emy give Way. — Grant's Desire to pursue. — Condition of the 
Soldiers. — Terrible Slaughter. — Sherman's Description. — 
Grant's Order. — Request of Beauregard. — Reply of Grant. 

— The Sanitary Commission. — Its gi-eat Work. — Description 
of the Southern and Northern Soldier. — The Dift'ercnce. — 
Napoleon and Marshal Soult. — Change in Grant's Views of 
the Nature of the Rebellion. — Arrival of Gen. Halleck. — At 
tacks on Grant. — His Defence by Sherman and Washburne . 64 

CHAPTER VII. 

SIEGE OF COKINTH. 

The Siege of Corinth. — Grant favors an Immediate Attack. — His 
Advice repulsed. — Halleck 's Army. — Forty Miles of Breast- 
works. — Depressing Effect on our Victorious Army. — The 
over-cautious Man. — Grant examines the Enemy's Works. — 
Believes they can be carried by Assault. — Halleck deceived 
by Beauregard. — Corinth evacuated. — The Escape of the 
Enemy. — Slow Pursuit. — Grant's Predictions verified . . 76 

CHAPTER VIII. 

BATTLE OF ItJKA. — BATTLE OF CORINTH. 

Ke-organization of Military Departments. — Grant's Treatment of 
Guerillas and Rebel Newspapers. — Camps for Fugitive Slaves. 

— Bragg's Attempt to deceive Grant. — Failure. — Battle of 
luka. — Battle of Corinth. — Reckless Courage of the Rebels. 

— Grant's Foresight. — Sends Hurlbut and Ord to cut off the 
Enemy. — Delay of Rosecrans — Grant's Displeasure. — Pow- 
ell Buxton. — The Victory. — President Lincoln's Despatch. — 
Grant's Modesty. — Curious Letter of Abraham Lincoln to 
Andrew Johnson. — " Old Terms under the Constitution." — 
Grant's Reception of the Emancipatioa Proclamation. — His 
Policy concerning it . . . • 81 



viii Contents. 

CHAPTER IX. 

VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 

Description of the Valley of the Mississippi. — Its Importance. — 
Determination of the West. — Grant's Sj'mpathj. — Anecdote 
of Judge Douglas at St. Louis. — llebel Works at Vicksburg. 

— The Canal. — The Yazoo Pass. — Moon Lake. — Gen. Ross's 
Expedition. — Advance of the Gunboats. — Attack on Fort 
Pemberton. — Ross's Peril. — The Fleet in Danger. — Message 
sent by a Slave. — Sherman's Nigbt March. — A Torchlight 
Procession. — " Marshal Forwards." — Failure of Different 
Schemes. — Grant censured. — Vicksburg a Gibraltar. — Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Confidence in Grant 92 

CHAPTER X. 

RUNNING THE BATTERIES. 

Grant decides to move South of Vicksburg. — Is opposed by all his 
Generals. — Earnest Remonstrances of Sherman. — Anecdote 
of Nelson at Aboukir. — Attitude of Grant. — Moral Grandeur. 

— Scott on Cavalry. — Grlerson's Raid. — The Boats to run the 
Batteries. — Anecdote of the Illinois Boy. — Varied Capacities 
of the American Soldier. — Splendid Night-Scene on the River. 

— The Boats pass the Batteries. — Princely Residence burned 

by its Owner 102 

CHAPTER XI. 

CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI, — BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. 

The AiTny crosses the Mississippi. — Gunboats attack Grand Gulf. 

— The Repulse. — Feint at Hainc's Bluff. — Grant's Untiring 
Activity. — His Baggage a Tooth-Brush. — Marches on Port 
Gibson. — Inspiring Scene. — The Battle. — Hon. Mr. Wash- 
burne. — Rapidity of Grant's Movements. — Gov. Yates's De- 
spatch 

CHAPTER XIL 

GRAND GDLF CAPTURED. 

Capture of Grand Gulf. — Marches on Jackson. — Abandons his 
Base. — His Determination. — His Energy. — Feeds his Army 
off the Country. — Anecdote of Frederick the Great. — Genius 



112 



Contents. ix 

makes its own Rules. — Apprehensions of Grant's OfSccrs. — 
His Policy toward Rebels in War. — Bombastic Proclamation 
of Gov. Pettus. — Battle of Raymond. — Valor of Irish Sol- 
diers. — Pemberton's Perplexities about Grant's Base . .121 

CHAPTER Xni. 

BATTLE AT JACKSON. 

Pemberton puzzled by Grant's Strategy. — Battle at Jackson. — The 
Victory. — The Army enter the City. — Burning of the Hotel 
by the Soldiers. — Their Excuse. — Inhuman Conduct of its 
Inmates. — Banquet of Rebel Officers in Anticipation of Vic- 
tory. — Pemberton's Solicitude about Grant's Base. — Cannot 
comprehend Grant's Strategy. — Battle at Champion's Hill. — 
Anecdote of Davoust at Wagram. — Hill of Death. — Curious 
Order received by Grant. — The Victory. — Soldiers sing 
" Old Hundred." — Impressive Scene 132 

CHAPTER XIV. 

BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER. 

Battle at Big Black River. — Heroic Assault of Lawler's Brigade. 

— The Victory. — The Enemy retreat to Vicksburg. — Pur- 
suit by Sherman's Corps. — Results of the Campaign. — The 
Campaign a Novelty in War. — Napoleon's forced Contribu- 
tions. — Strange Scene between Sherman and Grant. — Their 
Friendship. — Friendships of Great Men 143 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. 

Vicksburg invested. — Grant's Position. — Determines to Assault. 

— Preparations. — The Assault. — The Forlorn Hope. — The 
Repulse. — The Siege. — Preparation to fight Johnston. — 
Rebel attempts to build Boats with the Houses of Vicksburg. 

— Explosion of the Mine. — Progress of the Siege. — Distress 
of the Inhabitants. — Scarcity of Food. — Living in Caves. — 
Pemberton writes to Grant. — Their Interview. — Pemberton's 
Demand for Terms. — Unconditional Surrender. — Entrance 
of the Union Army into Vicksburg. — Interesting Scenes. — 
Immense Work done during the Siege. — The Largest Capture 
ever made in War 148 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PORT HUDSON TAKEN. 

Grant recommends Sherman for Promotion. — President Lin- 
coln's Letter to Grant. — Amusing Defence of Grant by Presi- 
dent Lincoln — Port Hudson taken by Gen. Banks. — Sher- 
man ordered to attack Johnston. — He moves on Jackson, 
Miss. — Jackson evacuated by Johnston. — Protection given 
to Colored Troops. — Grant's Views of Slavery. — No Peace 
until this Question is settled. — Theories on Slave Property. — 
Grant insists that Colored Troojis sliall have Equal Rights with 
White Troops. — Gen. Banks testifies to Bravery of Colored 
Troops 167 

CHAPTER XVIL 

THEORIES OF TRADE. — ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY. 

Grant satisfied the Rebellion cannot be coaxed out of Existence. — 
Views of "Trade," "Jobs," and " Speculation." — Appointed 
Major-General. — Intrigues of England in Mexico. — Eng- 
land's "Neutrality." — England's Consistency, Justice, Mag- 
nanimity, and Moderation, especially in India and Ireland. — 
Opening of the Mississippi. — Extortion prevented. — Grant's 
Care of his Soldiers. — Grant and the Steamboat Captain. — 
Visit to Memphis. — Honors paid him. — Visits New Orleans. 
— Appearance at the Review. — IIorse-Flesh. — Accident. — 
Ordered to Chattanooga. — "A small Chance of a Fighter." . 176 

CHAPTER XVin. 

BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE. 

Grant's New Department. — Its Vastness. — His Great Power.— 
Ceaseless Activity of the New Commander. — His Arrival at 
Night at Camp. — Anecdote of Marshal Ney. — Magnanimity 
of Gen. Thomas. — Description of Chattanooga. — Descent of 
the Tennessee at Night. — Singing of Rei)cl Pickets. — Wolfe's 
Descent of the St. Lawrence. — Battle at Wauhaichie. — Great 
Change in the Army efFected by Grant. — Anecdote of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. — His Comments on Grant. — Mountaineers; 
their Love of Freedom. — Unparalleled SuflTering of Union Men 
in Tennessee. — Grant's Sympathy. — His Orders for their 
Protection. — Burnside at Knoxvilie. — Grant's Impatience to " 
attack Bragg. — His Solicitude for and Care of Sherman . 187 



Contents. xi 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PREPAKATIOXS AT CHATTANOOGA. 

Gigantic Preparations for the Campaign. — Grant at Chattanooga. 

— Sherman's Arrival. — Grant shows him the Field of the 
Expected Battle. — Explains his Plans. — Sherman's Enthu- 
siasm. — Rows himself down the Tennessee at Night. — 
Bridges the Tennessee. — The Army cross. — Battle at Look- 
out Mountain. — Rebels retreat to Missionary Ridge. — Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Message 202 

CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF MISSIONARY BIOGE. 

Grant's Fertility of Resources. — Scene on the Morning of the 
Battle. — Grant's Plan. — Appearance of the Soldiers. — 
Heavy Fighting of Sherman's Division. — Charge of Sheridan. 

— Sherman in Danger. — Grant sends Re-enforcements. — 
The Grand Attack on the Centre. — The Victory. — Grant's 
Welcome among the Troops. — The Largest Capture on any 
Field of Battle. — Jefferson Davis's Visit to Missionary Ridge. 

— " The Devil's Pulpit " 211 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD. 

Pursuit of the Enemy. — Scene at Chickamauga. — Battle of 
Ringgold. — Great Slaughter. — Grant turns the Enemy's Po- 
sition. — Miseries of War. — Grant desires to relieve Burn- 
side. — He deceives the Enemy. — His Despatch to Burnside . 218 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE. 

Location of Knoxville. — Its Fortifications. — Longstreet deter- 
mines to assault. — The Assault. — The Repulse. — Suffer- 
ings of the Rebel Wounded. — Burnside's Humanity. — Offers 
a Truce to bury the Dead. — Longstreet deceived by Grant's 
Despatch. — Raises the Siege. — Sherman arrives at Knoxville. 

— Interview with Sherman. — Grant's Address to his Army . 223 



xii Contents. 

CHAPTER XXm. 

RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

Disastrous Effects of the Campaign on the Confederacy. — The 
Rebellion dethroned in the West. — Honors to Grant. — Reso- 
lutions of Congress. — National Medal. — Methodist Confer- 
ence. — Grant visits the Outposts of his Army. — Dangers and 
Fatigues. — Visit to Lexington. — Proposes the Campaign 
against Atlanta and Mobile. — Visit to St. Louis. — Honors 
paid him. — Banquet. — Anecdote. — Speech-making. — Ef- 
forts to aid the Sanitary Commission 229 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 

Military Power united. — Congress revives the Grade of Lieutenant- 
General. — Badcau's Testimony. — Interesting Correspondence 
between Grant and Sherman. — Grant's Arrival at Washing- 
ton. — Scene at the Hotel. — Ceremonies on receiving his Com- 
mission. — Speeches of President Lincoln and Gen. Grant. — 
Levee at the White House. — " Warm Campaign." — Gratifi- 
cation of the People at the Appointment 233 

CHAPTER XXV. 

RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. — THE ADVANCE. 

Gen. Grant re-organizes the Army. — Extended Theatre of the 
War. — Grant's Varied Campaigns. — Operations of Sheri- 
dan, Banks, Sherman, Steele, and Butler. — Topography of 
Virginia. — Its Facilities for oftering Defensive War. — Rich- 
mond. — Preparations for an Advance. — Mutual Confidence 
between President Lincoln and Grant. — Their Letters. — 
Death- Warrant of the Rebellion 239 

CHAPTER XXVL 

CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS. 

The Grand Advance. — Scene at the Crossing of-the Rapidan. — 
Description of the Wilderness. — Lee's Great Advantage. — 
Breaking of the Rebel Line. — Lee rallies his Men. — Deter- 



Contents. xiii 

mines to lead a Charge. — Is compelled to retire by his Sol- 
diers. — Anecdote of Lee and one of his Veterans. — Death of 
Gen. Wadsworth. — Grant's Remarks on Northern and South- 
ern Soldiers. — Honors due to the Private Soldiers. — Retreat 
of Lee to Spottsylvania. — Death of Gen. Sedgwick. — "I shall 
fight it out on this Line." — Prisoners captured. — Battle at 
Spottsylvania. — Grant's Coolness. — Anecdote. — Death of 
Gen. Rice. — Harvest of Death 241 

CHAPTER XXVn. 

BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. 

Sherman's March. — Its Announcement to the Army. — Sheridan's 
Raid. — Battle at Beaver Dam. — Death of Gen. Stuart. — 
Grant's Flank-March. — Its Difficulties. — Movement to the 
Pamunkey. — Old Battle-Fields. — McClellan. — Battle of 
Cold Harbor. — The Assault of the Sixth Corps. — Burn- 
side. — Death of Gen. Porter. — Wonderful Success . . 250 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SIEGE OF PETER8BDRG. 

The March to the James River. — Its Difficulties. — Its Success. ^ 
Astonishment of Gen. Lee. — Petersburg assaulted. — Wil- 
son's Raid. — Petersburg invested. — Thirty Miles of Works. 
— Immense Labors of Gen. Grant. — Anecdote of Grant and 
the Young Lieutenant. — Grant's Sympathy with his Men. — 
Anecdote of Sir Ralph Abercromby. — Visit of President Lin- 
coln to the Army. — The Mine. — Its Explosion. — Failure to 
carry the Rebel Works. — Colored Troops. — Grant's Testi- 
mony. — Grant's Letter on the Rebels "robbing the Cradle 
and the Grave." — Sends Sheridan to the Valley of the Shen- 
andoah. — Oidered to "Go in." — Grant's Management of , 
the Campaign 25B 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Sherman's march. 

News of Hood's March into Tennessee. — Grant's Comment. — 
Anecdote. — Burning of Atlanta. — Remonstrance of the 
Mayor. — Arguments of Sherman. — Appearance of Atlanta. 



xiv Contents. 

— Its Desolation. — Last Honrs of the Army in Atlanta. — 
"John Brown's Soul goes marching on." — The Advance to 
the Sea. — The Campaign. — Charlestown evacuated. — Co- 
lumbia captured. — Consumed by Fire. — Retribution. — 
Union Soldiers starved in a Land of Plenty. — Co-operating 
Expeditions sent out by Grant. — Effects of Slavery. — Anec- 
dote. — Grant's Commendation of Sherman .... 266 

CHAPTER XXX. 

lee's ketkeat. 

The End approaching. — Grierson's Raid. — Canby's Expedition 
against Mobile. — Wilson's and Stoncman's Expeditions. — 
Sheridan and Early. — Lee attacks Port Steadman. — Is re- 
pulsed. — Lee's Desperation. — Battle at Five Forks. — Sheri- 
dan's Appearance on the Field. — The Victory. — Night Bom- 
bardment. — Grant's Reception among the Soldiers. — Last 
Grand Attack of Lee's Army. — Hill's Division. — Anecdote 
of Stonewall Jackson. — Petersburg evacuated by Lee . . 271 

CHAPTER XXXL 

CAPTURE OF RICHMOND. 

Rejoicings at City Point. — Lee telegraphs to Jefferson Davis that 
Richmond must be evacuated. — Davis receives tlie Despatch 
at Church. — Curiosity of the People. — Preparations to leave. 

— E.\citemcnt throughout the City. — The Burning of Rich- 
mond. — Destruction of Property caused by the Hebe! Army. 

— Scenes during the Conflagration. — Entrance of the Union 
Army. — Raising of the Flag on the Capitol. — Rejoicings at 
the North. — Rebel Army evacuate Petersburg. — Lee confi- 
dent of a Safe Retreat. — Grant's Pursuit. — Battle at Sailor's 
Creek 280 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE. 

Crossing of the Appomattox. — Famished Condition of the Rebel 
Army. — Consultation of Lee's Generals. — Correspondence 
between Grant and Lee. — Sheridan near Appomattox. — Des- 
peration of Lee's Army. — Custer. — His Appearance on the 



Contents. xv 

Field. — The Flag of Truce. — Appomattox Court House. — 
Its Appearance. — Arrival of Grant. — Meeting of Grant and 
Sheridan. — Wellington and Blucher. — The Interview of 
Grant and Lee. — Terms of the Surrender. — Scene after the 
Surrender. — Reiic-Hunters. — Grant's Magnanimity. — Grant 
leaves for Washington. — Stops the Draft. — Assassination of 
President Lincoln. — Capture of Davis. — Sherman and John- 
ston. — Grant's Visit to Sherman. — Johnston's Final Sur- 
render. — Numbers of both Armies. — Grant's Farewell to 
the Army 287 

CHAPTER XXXm. 

GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR. 

Character of the War. — Its Cost in Men and Money. — Grant 
ordered to visit the South. — His Report. — The Grade of 
" General " revived by Congress. — The Debate. — Commen- 
dation of Democrats. — Affairs in Rebel States. — Sheridan's 
Report. — Johnson decides to remove Stanton and Sheridan. 
— Remonstrance of Grant. — Johnson's Orders. — Grant's 
Letter to Stanton 298 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

HIS FIRST PRESIDENTIAL TERM. 

Elected Prpsident. — Electoral Vote. — Inaugural Address. — 
Inauguration. — Cabinet. — Military Appointments. — Act 
to strengthen Public Credit. — Fifteenth Amendment. — 
Message to Congreis. — Purity of Elections. — Eight Hour 
Law. — Indian Policy. — Education. — Civil Service Re- 
form. — Pensions. — Oceaff Commerce. — Public Lands. — 
Manufactures. — Debt. — Finances. — Alabama Claims. — 
Arbitrators. — Ku-Klux Klan. — His Renomination for a 
Second Term. — Republican Declaration of Principles. — 
His Letter of Acceptance. — Summary .... 313 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

CONCLUSION. 

Outline of Grant's History. — His Honesty. — Judgment. — In- 
dependence. — Course since tlie War. — Oratory and States- 
manship. — His Reticence — The Reformer and the Magis- 
trate. — His Magnanimity. — His Patriotism . . . 341 



CONTENTS 



SKETCH OF WILSON. 



Birth. — Boyhood. — Early Struggles. — Journey on Foot to 
Natick. — Learns a Trade. — Love of Reading. — A Manu- 
facturer. — Marriage. — Harrison Campaign. — " Natick 
Cobbler." — Elected Representative. — Annexation of Texas. 
— Elected to State Senate. — Taylor Campaign. — Aids in 
organizing Free Soil Party. — President of the Senate. — 
Constitutional Convention, 1853. — Edward Everett. — 
Elected United States Senator. — American Party. — 
Kansas. — Sumner Assault. — Brooks's Challenge. — "Mud- 
sills." — Election of Lincoln. — Attack on Sumter. — Ad- 
vice to President. — General Scott's Compliment to Wil- 
son. — Chairman of Committee on Military Affairs. — 
Great Labors. — Bills introduced in Congress. — Recon- 
struction. — His Son. — Visits Europe. — Nomination as 
Vice-President. — Summary ...... 350 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



CHAPTER I. 



BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 



ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT was born, April 
27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, 
Ohio, a small town on the Ohio River, twenty-five 
miles above Cincinnati. The Grants are of Scotch 
descent ; and the motto of their clan in Aberdeenshire 
was, " Stand fast, stand firm, stand sure." Grant in- 
herits fi'om many of his ancestors a love for freedom, 
and a determination to fight for its cause. In 1799, his 
grandfather, a Pennsylvania farmer, joined the great 
tide of emigration moving to the North-west Territory. 

This fertile and attractive region had recently been 
consecrated to freedom forever by the great Ordinance 
of 1787. There, there would be neither slaves nor 
slavery ; there, labor would be honorable in all. 

His great-grandfatlier, Capt. Noah Grant of Windsor, 

Conn., and his brother, Lieut. Solomon Grant, were 

soldiers in the old French War, and were both killed 

in battle in 1756 ; and it is not to be forgotten that 

1 1 



2 Life of General Grant. 

the old muster-rolls of the company bear the names of 
several negro soldiers who fought and died by their side. 
His grandtlxther, also Noah Grant of Windsor, hurried 
from his fields at the first conflict of the Revolution, 
and appeared as a lieutenant on Lexington Common 
on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, when 
the embattled farmers " fired the shot heard round the 
world." 

Jesse R. Grant, the father of Ulysses, was born in 
Pennsylvania hi 1794. He married Hannah Simpson, 
the daughter of a friend and neighbor. They had six 
children. Mr. Grant learned his business as a tanner 
in Maysville, Ky., but left for Ohio because he would 
not own a slave, nor live where slaves were owned. 
He is a man of great force of character, of marked in- 
dividuality, of industry, integrity, and thrift ; and still 
lives to enjoy the respect of his fellow-citizens and the 
world-wide fame bf his son. 

Like other great men. Grant has an excellent mother, 
— a pious woman, cheerful, unambitious of worldly dis- 
play, watchful of her children, and " looking well to the 
ways of her household." Her husband pays her the 
highest tribute which can be paid to any wife and 
mother in saying, " Her steadiness, firmness, and strength 
of character, have been the stay of the fanillv through 
life." 

The strength of a mother's love has been famed from 
earliest time. " Floods cannot quench it, nor the sens 
drown." While Grant was in the iNIexican War, his 
mother's hair turned white from anxiety. He was 
young ; had just entered the army ; he was far away, sur- 
rounded by so many temptations, he might "fall fvinn 



Birth and Early Life. 3 

life, or, sadder yet, from virtue." But the mother's love 
and prayers, which carried him daily in her heart to 
God, were his shield from his cradle ; and the man does 
not live who ever heard hun utter a profane word. 
Throughout all the harassing and perplexincr cares of 
his army-life, no neghgence, carelessness, mishehavior, 
ill-temper in others, tempted him to irreverence. Always, 
at all times, he was self-controlled ; and " self-control is 
self-completion." During the Rebellion, she still fol- 
lowed him with the eyes of her heart on the road to 
fame, but with more faith and trust. She believed 
God had raised him up to deliver and bless his native 
land, and would guide and protect him. How much 
the world owes to pious mothers ! 

Love of their children was a strongly-marked trait 
in the family. Mr. Grant, senior, when in the full en- 
joyment of his powers of mind and body, took a com- 
petence from his own property, and divided the remainder 
among his children, except Ulysses, who declined to 
receive it. Gen. Grant wanted the companionship of 
his young son in his absence from his family in camp; 
and, wishing also to bring him in contact with actual 
life under his own eye, he took him with him to Cham- 
pion Hill, and through the campaign at Vicksburg.. And 
on the morning at the White House when he received 
his commission from President Lincoln as Lieutenant- 
General of the Union armies, there were assembled, 
besides the cabinet, only one or two officials ; but, when 
Gen. Grant entered, his little son was by his side. So 
sweet is it to the human heart to have our success 
witnessed by those we love ! 

He was originally christened Hiram Ulysses; his 



4 Life of General Grant. 

grandfather giving the name of Hiram ; his grandmother, 
wlio was a great student of history, giving the name of 
Ulysses, whose character had strongly attracted her 
admiration. The member of Congress who appointed 
Grant to his cadetship at West Point when a boy of 
seventeen, by accident changed his name, in filling his 
appointment, to U. S. Grant. Grant repeatedly en- 
deavored to have the mistake corrected at West Point, 
and at the War Department at Washington ; but this 
was one of the few things in which he failed : his appli- 
cations were never complied with. As if fate foresaw 
the patriotic duty, the filial love, the transcendent ser- 
vices, he was one day to render his country, the govern- 
ment seemed to insist, when adopting him among her 
military children, on renaming him, and giving to him 
her own initials, — " U. S.," which he has ever since 
borne. 

It has been thought remarkable that the mother of 
Napoleon should have happened to give birth to her 
warrior-son beneath tapestried hangings on -which were 
wrought battle-pictures from the Iliad. Is it not a little 
singular that the maternal relative of Grant should 
have chosen for her admiration, from all history, the 
character of the hero of the siege of Troy ; liave given 
his name to the infant Grant ; and that forty years after, 
when leading the Union armies of the Republic, he 
should have exhibited the same invincible fortitude, 
untiring patience, and unconquerable perseverance, so 
celebrated in the immortal song of Homer ? Ulysses of 
old was himself the very man who '' fought it out on 
the line he had chosen, if it took all summer." 

Grant was neither a precocious nor a stupid child : 



Birth and Early Life. 5 

he was a well-behaved, dutiful boy. He attended the 
public school in the village ; he learned well, but was no 
prodigy. The first book he read was " The Life of Wash- 
ington," which made on his mind and imagination a 
profound and lasting impression. A Canadian relative 
of about his own ace visitino; him soon after, Washino-- 
ton was very naturally spoken of by the two boys. 
His Canadian cousin said " he was nothing but a 
rebel, after all." Both boys were excited; and Grant 
said, "If you say that again, I'll thrash you." It was 
repeated with defiance. Off went their jackets, and the 
Canadian soon had the worst of it. Years after, Grant 
was reminded of the incident by his cousin ; and he 
assured him pleasantly that he should do the same thing 
again with like provocation. 

His special fondness was for a horse, and he attended 
the circus whenever it passed through the village. One 
came aloncr in which there was an innocent-looking 
pony, which was brought out during the performances ; 
and then the question would be mildly asked with a 
smile, " Is there any little boy here who would like 
a ride ? " 

The pony was trained to go furiously round, and, at 
a given signal from his master, throw the boy head first 
on to the tan in the ring ; when the surprised and morti- 
fied boy would pick himself up, and retreat amid the 
laughter of the crowd. When the question was asked, 
Ulysses stepped into the ring, mounted ; and the pony 
started. On he went ; crack, crack, went the whip ; 
faster and faster went the pony. At the signal, he kicked 
up his heels, reared, plunged, shook his back. The peo- 
ple shouted ; but the boy sat still. Out came a large 



6 Life of General Grant. 

monkey, and jumped up behind him, tore off Ills cap, 
and clutched his hair. Ulysses looked neither to the 
right nor the left ; he spoke not a word, but clung like 
grim death to the saddle, until the ring-master gave it 
up, and stopped the })ony. 

This anecdote is of no consequence, except as ex- 
hibiting a native and early-developed trait in Grant's 
character, — of always doing what he attempted to do. 
He had undertaken to ride the pony, crowd or no 
crowd, monkey or no monkey; and he rode him. " The 
difference in boys," said Dr. Arnold, " is not so much 
in talent as in energy." 

Another anecdote illustrates the same trait, but 
exhibits more strate<ry and in^-enuitv. When twelve 
years old, Mr. Grant's men were hauling heavy logs 
from the woods. Ulysses drove the horse. One day, 
when he reached the woods, he found the logs, but not 
the men. He waited ; but the men did not come. He 
determined not to go home without the logs. So, after 
contrivinc some time, he hitched the chain to one end 
of a log, and drew it up on to a tree which had fallen, 
so that one end was hi<rher than the other. When he 
had three logs in position, he backed the hind end of 
the wagon under them, and then, with the chain, hauled 
the logs on to the wagon, and drove home in triumph. 
Quite a little feat for a boy of twelve years of uge. 

He never liked his father's business of tanning. It 
was disairreeable : and he earlv detei-mined not to folhnv 
it. He wanted an education. He said he would be a 
firmer, or trade down the river ; but a tanner he would 
not be. 

His father, with limited means, did not feel, that, in 



Birth and Early Life. 7 

justice to himself and his other children, he could 
afford the money to send him to college. 

He aj)plied, with the boy's assent, for a vacant cadet- 
ship at West Point. The appointment was to be mad^ 
by Hon. T. L. Hamer, the member of Congress from 
the district. His term of office expired at noon, IMarch 
4, 1839. Mr. Grant's letter, asking for the appoint- 
ment of his son, reached him on the night of tlie 3d. 
On the morning of the 4th, the appointment was made. 

It is remarkable, that, without any special preparatory 
study, he passed the rigid examination which all cadets 
are obliged to undergo, and was at once admitted to 
the academy. 

The story which has been told, that Grant was 
"hazed" at West Point, and had a fight with some of 
the cadets, is an error. Grant had no difficulty, either 
with the officers or his fellow-cadets. He never struck 
nor was struck while there by any person whatever. 

It was in the years passed at the academy that Grant 
laid the foundation of his greatness. Wellincton, once 
looking at the playground at Eton with a friend, said, 
" 'Twas there Waterloo was won." It was at West 
Point that Donelson and Vicksburp; and Chattanoo- 
ga wei'e made possible to Grant. Gibbon says every 
man has two educations, — one acquired from others ; 
one more important, which he gives to himself. Grind- 
ing gerunds may be study, but is not necessarily edu- 
cation. Education and wisdom are different things. 
A man may be very learned, and very unwise ; he may 
know a great deal, and be very ignorant ; be highly ed- 
ucated, and be very foolish. A man, like a gun, may 
be overloaded to his own injury and that of others ; may 



8 Life of General Grant. 

possess every sense but common sense ; miderstand 
words, and be ignorant of affairs. Such men are '' wells 
that hold no water ; " or rather they hold it so closely, no 
'one's thirst is quenched. Like Shakspeare's purblind 
Aro-us, they are " all eyes, and no sight." Such are the 
medical scholars who lose all their patients ; legal 
scholars who lose all their clients ; and, last of all, milita- 
ry scholars who lose all their battles. They are edu- 
cated, but to the death of all usefulness. 

But Grant received at West Point the best education 
a man can receive ; namely, that which fits him for his 
work in life. He was not compelled, as most men are 
under our college systems, to waste years in studying 
the rules of Greek accents and scanning Latin verse ; 
making them, often, alive to the " dead languages," 
while dead to most living things. He was subjected 
to a course of physical training which invigorated his 
body. He was taught fencing, drawing, riding, dancing ; 
he was taught science, mathematics, the modern lan- 
guages, constitutional and international law, and engi- 
neering. 

Men are not educated by books alone. " The gods 
forbid," said Plato, " that to philosophize should be only 
to read a great many books." " I know neither art nor 
science," said Pythagoras ; " but I am a philosopher." 

Yoiing Grant appreciated and improved all the oppor- 
tunities which were offered to him. He gave those 
years diligently to self-improvement in the widest sense. 
He o-raduated with a aood rank in his class ; and, what 
was better, withcnit vices which enfeebled his body, or 
mental habits which dejn-aved his mind. 

On leaving the academy, he could recall his life there 



Birth and Early Life. 9 

•with a satisfaction similar to that with which Curran 
so touchingly recalled to Lord Avonmore their early 
days and nights of study together : — 

" We spent them not in toys or lust or wine, 
But search of deep philosophy." 

In July, 1843, he entered the United-States army 
as a brevet second lieutenant in the fourth regiment of 
infantry. He was ordered to the frontiers of Missouri, 
amono- the Indians, then on the outer borders of civiliza- 
tion. Here Lieut. Grant remained nearly two years ; 
when, in 1845, he was ordered to Corpus Christi, Tex., 
where United-States troops were gathering under com- 
mand of Gen. Zachary Taylor. War ensued, not long 
after, between the United States and Mexico, on the 
question of boundary-lines. From the first attack on 
Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, Lieut. Grant was in 
every battle in the Mexican War except Buena Vista, 
— fourteen in all. At Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, 
Monterey, Chapviltepec, in every engagement, he con- 
ducted himself with distinguished bravery, which elicited 
special mention from his superiors in command. In 
1847, he was appointed brevet captain ; his commission 
dating from the day on which the battle of Chapultepec 
was fought. In 1853, he was promoted to a full cap- 
taincy. 

In' 1864, Gen. Scott said to Col. Badeau of Gen. 
Grant's staff, the accomplished historian of his military 
life, that he remembered a young officer named Grant, 
who distinguished himself in the Mexican War ; and at 
Appomattox Court House, at the surrender of Gen. Lee, 
the latter remarked to Grant, that he remembered hav- 
ing seen him in Mexico during the war. 



10 Life of General Grant. 

But Grant's service in Mexico crave liim an opportu- 
nity of showing that he had a warm and grateful heart, 
and could do something manly beside fighting. Hon. 
Mr. Hamer, who, as member of Congress, had appointed 
Grant to his cadetship, and to whom he felt greatly in- 
debted for his education at West Point, went out to 
Mexico as a general of volunteers, and, while there in 
camp, was taken sick. Lieut. Grant nursed him with 
the love of a son and the tenderness of a woman, per- 
formed for him the last offices of affection, and closed 
his eyes in death. 



CHAPTER II. 

ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

AT tlie close of tlie ^Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- 
turned to the United States, and was subsequently 
stationed on the Canadian frontier, in California, and in 
Oregon. But garrison life in that lonely region offered 
no opportunities of usefulness to himself or others. 
His years were wasting away in the small duties of an 
outpost ; and as the country was at peace, and had no 
special need of military service from him, he deter- 
mined to resign his commission, which he did in July, 
18.34. 

He moved to St. Louis, and there married Miss 
Julia Dent, a sister of his classmate, Major Frederic 
T. Dent, of the United-States army, and a daughter of 
Frederic Dent, Esq., a merchant of that cit}'. He 
soon took a farm in the suburbs of St. Louis, and 
labored in the life of a farmer. He would cut Avood, 
and haul it to Carondelet : and citizens there tell of 
buying wood of Capt. Grant ; adding, that he dressed 
according to his work, wearing a slouched hat, a blouse, 
and his pantaloons tucked in at the top of his boots. 

But the wood-lot and the small farm did not yield 
an adequate income for the support and education of 
his family; and in 1859 he moved to Galena, 111., 

11 



12 Life of General Grant. 

entered into business, and was residing there on the 
morning of the memorable 12th of April, 18G1, when 
the telegrapli flashed the news over the country that 
the rebels had fired on the old flag at Fort Sumter. 

" The oblio-ations of the intellect," it has been said, 
*' are among the most sacred of the claims of gratitude." 
Macaulay, in his history of the attack of James the II. 
on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has 
given us a beautiful picture of the attachment which 
all men feel for the place of their education, and the 
gratitude which accompanies it. There are exceptions ; 
but Grant was not one of these. The country had 
adopted him and educated him. It had a claim of 
honor on his services in the day of peril ; and he joy- 
ously recognized the bond, — all the more cheerfully, 
because it could not be enforced. There are some 
thino-s which it is impossible for a noble, manly nature 

to do. 

It would liave been impossible for Grant to do as 
did Robert E. Lee, — be educated, supported, and hon- 
ored through life by the munificence of the government ; 
to remain in personal and official intimacy with Gen. 
Scott, studying his plans, and the numbers of the 
Union army, until the last day or two before the first 
battle at Bull Run; then steal into Virginia under 
pretence of visiting his family, join the rebels, and 
fiiiht against the government which had made him all 
he was" For the honor of human nature, such in- 
stances are few. Grant could not have done this, any 
more than he could have struck the mother who bore 

him. 

None of tills generation who witnessed it will ever 



Attack ox Fort Sumter. 13 

forget the majestic uprising of the people at the attack 
on Fort Sumter. The old flag, which had been re- 
garded chiefly as an ornament for festal occasions, 
became at once the dear symbol of our undying love 
for our native land. 

The human soul is so organized that it always requires 
a visible sign of its emotions : such was the eairle to 
the Roman, the cross to the Christian, the crescent to 
the Mahometan. The same sentiment in the heart of 
man was recognized and invoked in that most heart- 
breaking and mournful scene in human history, — the 
institution of the Last Supper, and the visible emblems 
of the body broken and the blood shed. The national 
ensign, representing all that was precious in national 
life or sacred in patriotic duty, was at once flung out 
from spire and balcony and mast-head, on land and 
sea. The occasion moved Grant to the utmost dei)ths 
of his being. He said to a friend, " The government 
has educated me for the army. What I am, I owe to 
my country. I have served her through one war, and, 
live or die, will serve her through this." Noble words, 
and nobly have they been redeemed. 

Immediately he began recruiting and drilling a com- 
pany in the streets of Galena ; and, four days after, he 
went with it to Springfield, the capital of the State of 
Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln, and offered it 
to Gov. Yates. So modest was he, that he only applied 
to be their captain, thinking his military education 
would be of use to them : but another member desired 
the place, and informed Grant of his wish ; and the future 
lieutenant-general gave way. So little was the North 
prepared for war, that many of the States had no war 



14 Life of General Grant. 

department or adjutant-jxenerars office. In many 
instances, the office of adjutant-general was not filled 
by officers experienced in the routine of military organi- 
zation. After a few days, Gov. Yates said to Grant 
one morning, " Do you know about these military 
details ? — how many men it takes to make a company, 
and how many to make a regiment, and what officers 
each must have ? " 

Grant rei)lied, "Oh, yes, sir! I was educated at 
West Point, and served eleven years in the regular 
army." 

" Then," said the governor, " sit right down in this 
arm-chair, and act as Adjutant-General of the State." 
He did so, and was of special service at Springfield in 
organizing and forwarding regiments. Gov. Yates has 
since spoken of his first impressions of Gen. Grant in 
the following terms : — 

" In presenting himself to me, he made no reference to any 
merits, but simply snid he had been the recipient of a military 
education at Wi-st Point ; and, now that the country was assaileil, 
he thouiiht it his duty to ofTcr his services, and that he would 
esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any position where he could 
be usefid. I cannot now claim to myself the credit of having 
discerned in him the promise of great achievements, or the quali- 
ties ' which minister to the making of great names,' more than in 
many others who {)roposed to enter the military service. His 
appearance, at first sight, is not striking. He had no grand airs, 
no imposing appearance ; and I confess it could not be said he 
was a tbrm 

' Where every {rod did seem to set his seal 
To yive the world assurance of a man.' 

He was ])lain. very plain; but still, sir. something — perhaps his 
plain, straightforward modesty and earnestness — induced me to 



Attack on Fort Sumter. 15' 

assign him a desk in the executive office. In a short time, I found 
him to be an invaluable assistant in my office and in that of the 
adjutant-general. He was soon after assigned to the command of 
the six camps of organization and instruction which I had 
established in the State." 

He had previously written to the Adjutant-General of 
the United States, at Washington, ottering his services, 
during the war, in any capacity in which he might 
be wanted ; but it was merely from some unknown 
officer out West, by the name of Grant ; and this letter, 
•which would have been read with interest by thousands 
for years to come, was not even preserved. 

He remained five weeks at Springfield, with the ex- 
ception of a flying visit to Cincinnati, which he made 
to see Gen. McClellan, whom he had known in the army, 
and with the secret thought that possibly McClellan 
would offer him a place on his staff ; but McClellan was 
absent, and he returned. 

On the 15th of June, 1861, Gov. Yates gave him his 
commission as colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of 
Illinois Volunteers. The regiment at once felt the hand 
of a master. Its reduced numbers were raised to a thou- 
sand men : order, discipline, exactness, Avere everywhere 
seen. He reported to Brig.-Gen. John Pope, by whom 
he was stationed at Mexico, in the State of Missouri. 
He at once showed such skill and efficiency as a trained 
military man, that in August following, unknown to 
himself, upon the nomination of Hon. E. B. Washburne, 
member of Congress from Illinois, who early discerned 
his abilities, he was appointed brigadier-general of vol- 
unteers, his rank dating from the 17th of May. 

Gen. Pope had been succeeded in the Western 



16 Life op General Grants 

Department by Gen. Fremont ; and, on the 1st of Sep- 
tember, Grant was ordered by tlie latter to Cairo. 

Cairo is situated at the southern extremity of Illinois, 
on a tono-ue of land which thrusts itself out exactlv 
where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, a hundred 
and seventy-five miles below St. Louis. It is within 
striking distance of the five States of Illinois, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. It is said, that, 
in the first consultation that Gen. Scott had with the 
cabinet at the opening of the war, he placed his finger 
on the map at Cairo, and spoke of it as in every way 
one of the most important places in the country to the 
military power of the United States. 

Paducah was on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, at 
tlie mouth of the Tennessee River. Kentucky at this 
time had a rebel for governor, by the name of Beriah 
Magoffin. It was evident from the first that the border 
States, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, would be 
the first battle-o;round for the Union. The rebels in the 
two latter did not dare attempt to carry them at once 
over to secession ; but their policy was to talk " armed 
neutrality." The " sacred soil of old Kentucky must not 
be invaded by the troops of either party." These fine 
words were to be used until they could be carried boldly 
into the Rebellion. But, in the war for the Union, there 
could be no " neutrality" for any State, least of all for 
States which held the ashes of Andrew Jackson and 
Henry Clay. Every Stare and every man was either 
for the Union or ngamst it. 

The Legislature of Kentucky was for the Union by a 
large majority. On his arrival at Cairo, Grant had tel- 
egraphed to them that a rebel force had entered Ken- 



Attack on Fort Sumter. 17 

tucky. Gov. Harris of Tennessee telegraphed, " it had 
been done without his consent;" "President Davis 
would order their withdrawal ;" " Gen. Polk would with- 
draw them." But Grant preferred to trust his soldiers 
rather than Jeff. Davis, Beriah Magoffin, or Gen. Bishop 
Leonidas Polk ; and accordingly took possession of Padu- 
cah the next morning with two regiments and a battery. 
He found the rebel flag flying in all directions, rations 
and army supplies in great quantities (among the latter 
a laro-e amount of leather, of which Grant considered 
himself an excellent judge) ; and he appropriated all for 
the use of the United-States troops. He issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation to the inhabitants : — 

Paducah, Ky., Sept. 6, 1861. 
To THE Citizens of Paducah, — 

I have come among you, not as an enemy, but as your fellow<'iti- 
zen ; not to maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the 
rights of all luyal citizens. An enemy in rebellion against our 
common government has taken possession of, and planted its guns 
on, the soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hick- 
man are in his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here 
to defend you against this enemy, to assist the authority and sove- 
reignty of your government. I have nothing to do IV ith opinions. I 
shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abetters. You 
can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong arm 
of the government is here to protect its friends, and punish its 
enemies. "WTienever it is manifest that you are able to defend 
yourselves, and maintain the authority of the government, and pro- 
tect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under 

my command. 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 

The tone of this proclamation was admirable, and 
represented the spirit of the Union people : " I have 
come among you, not as an enemy ; " "I am here to 



18 Life of General Grant. 

assist the authority and sovereignty of your govern- 
ment." 

In the camp at Cairo, it was noticed that Grant made 
no disj)hiy of bright buttons and shoukler-straps, plumes 
and iiold-hice. Instead of the ren;ulation-liat with the 
gold cord and acorns, he generally wore a citizen's com- 
mon felt hat and a blue blouse. lie put on none of the 
airs, and made none of the pretensions, of little greatness. 
A few of the soldiers, who had been in Mexico, were re- 
minded of Gen. Taylor, " Old Rough and Ready," who, 
when a iMexican officer of high rank was suddenly an- 
nounced at his headquarters, found himself in an old 
brown linen coat and straw hat, and had to dive down to 
the bottom of his trunk, and search some time, before he 
could find the elegant coat, sash, and chapeau of a 
major-general, which the army regulations required him 
to wear. 

Rev. J. L. Crane, the chaplain of the regiment of 
which Grant was colonel, thus writes of camp-life at 
this time : — 

" Grant is about five feet ton inches in height, and will weigh 
a hundred and forty or forty-five pounds. He has a countenance 
indicative of reserve, and an indomitable will and persistent pur- 
pose. 

" In dress lie is indiirerent and careless, making no pretensions 
to style or fashionable military display. Had he continued colonel 
till now, I think his uniform would have lasted till tliis day ; iov 
he never used it excejjt on dress-parade, and then seemed to regard 
it a good deal as David did Saul's armor. 

" ' His body is a vial of intense existence ; ' and yet, when a 
stranger would see him in a crowd, he would never think of asking 
Lis name. He is no dissembler. He is a sincere, thinking, real 
man. He ia alwavs cheerful. No toil, cold, heat, hunger, latigue, 



Attack on Fort Sujiter. 19 

or want of money, depresses him. He does his work at the time, 
tinJ he re(^uires all under his command to be equally prompt. 
This promptness is one of Grant's charateristics, and it is one of 
the secrets of his success. 

" On one of our marches, when passing through one of those 
small towns where the grocery is the princijsal establishment, some 
of the lovers of intoxication had broken away from our lines, and 
filled their canteens with whiskey, and were soon reeling and un- 
governable under its influence. While apparently stopping the 
regiment for rest. Grant passed quietly along, and took each canteen, 
and, wherever he detected the fatal odor, emptied the liquor on the 
ground with as much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe. 
On this point, his orders were imperative : no whiskey nor intoxi- 
cating beverages were allowed in lais camp. 

" Grant belongs to no church ; yet he entertains and expresses 
the highest esteem for all the enterprises that tend to promote 
religion. When at home, he generally attended the jNIethodist- 
Episcopal Church. While he was colonel of the Twenty-first Regi- 
ment, he gave every encouragement and facility ibr securing a 
prompt and uniform observance of religious services ; and was 
generally found in the audience listening to the preaching. 

" Shortly after I came into the regiment, our mess were one 
day taking their usual seats around the dinner-table, when he 
remarked, — 

" ' Chaplain, when 1 was at home, and ministers were stopping 
at my house, I always invited them to ask a blessing at the table. 
I suppose a blessing is as much needed here as at home ; and, if 
it is agreeable with your views, I should be glad to have you ask 
a blessing every time we sit down to eat.' " 

Reconnoissances and skirmishes took place occasion- 
ally ; and prisoners were taken, concerning the exchange 
of whom the following correspondence took place with 
Major-Gen. Polk : — 

To THE Commanding Officer at Cairo axd Bird's Point, — 

1 have in my camp a number of prisoners of the Federal army, 
and am informed there are prisoners belonging to the Missomi 



20 Life of General Grant. 

State troops in yours. I propose an exchange of these prisoners, 
and for that purpose send Capt. Polk of the artillery, and Lieut. 
Smith of the infantry, both of the Confederate-States army, with 
a fla"" of truce, to deliver to you this communication, and to know 
your pleasure in regard to my proposition. Tlie principles recog- 
nized in the exchange of prisoners efiected on the 3d of Septem- 
ber, between Brig.-Gen. Pillow of the Confederate army, and Col. 
Wallace of the United-States army, are those I propose as the basis 
of that now contemplated. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

L. Polk, Major-Gen. commanding. 

This is an innocent-sounding letter: but Gen. Grant 
was not to be entrapped into recognizing any Soutliern 
Confederacy, or conceding the rights of belhgerents, by 
an exchange of prisoners ; and returned the following 
answer, showing himself thoroughly acquainted with 
the legal bearings of the points in discussion : — 

Gexekal, — Yours of this date is just received. In regard to 
an exchange of prisoners, as proposed, I can, of mi/ own accordance, 
make none. I recognize no Southern Confederacy myself, but will 
communicate with higher authorities for their views. Should I 
not be sustained, I will find means of connnuuicating with you. 
Respectfully your obetlient servant, 

U. S. Gu.vNT, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 
To Major-Gen. Polk, Columbus, Ky. 

The rebels were gathering troops and supplies in 
great force at Columbus, on the Kentucky shore of the 
Mississippi, below Cairo, and sending them across the 
river, through Belmont, to the rebel Gen. Price in 
Missouri. 

Grant had several times suggested an attack on 
Columbus. Filially, on the evening of the Cth of 



Battle of Belmont. 21 

November, Grant embarked for a reconnoissance with 
2,850 men upon four transports, convoyed by the gun- 
boats " Tyler" and " Lexington," and dropped down to 
Island No. 1, eleven miles above Columbus. Early the 
next morning, the troops were landed at Hunter's Point, 
on the Missouri shore, and marched about three miles 
to Belmont. Grant had no purpose to hold Belmont, 
which is on low ground, and every inch of it commanded 
by the rebel guns on the right bluff at Columbus oppo- 
site. His design was to stir up the rebels, scatter their 
camp, and capture the munitions. The rebel camp was 
in an open space, protected by fallen trees. 

The line of battle was formed with Col. Foukc in the 
centre, Col. Buford on the right, and Col. Logan on 
the left. These divisions advanced together, each con- 
tending for the honor of first planting the stars and 
stripes in the rebel camp. The fight was very severe 
for about four hours. Grant was in advance with the 
skirmish-line, and had his horse shot under him. But 
the Union troops drove the enemy foot by foot, and from 
tree to tree, back to their encampment. 

There were about 6,000 rebels. At last. Grant or- 
dered a charge ; and his whole force, now less than half 
the number of rebels, with loud cheers, drove the ene- 
my, at the point of the bayonet, through their camps ; and 
thousands took refuge on their transports on the river's 
edge. The troops, some of .whom had never been 
armed as soldiers until three days before, flushed with 
victory, gave themselves up to rejoicing. Officers began 
making stump-speeches for the Union. There were no 
wagons to move the captured property ; and the rebel 
tents were fired, consuming their blankets and all their 
camp-equipage. 



22 Life of General Grant. 

Major-Gen. Polk, who commanded at Columbus, 
opposite, had now decided that something must be 
done. The heavy fire from the guns which he had 
brought to bear had not stopped the victorious advance 
of Grant. He accordingly sent over three regiments 
under Gen. Pillow, and three more under Gen. Cheat- 
ham. The latter were landed between our troops and 
their boats to cut off their retreat. Grant had observed 
these movements, and had commenced his return-march 
to re-embark with his men disorganized by their victory. 
When the troops met in the woods the soldiers of Cheat- 
ham, they shouted, " We are surrounded ! "" and were 
thrown into confusion. A raw officer, in much excite- 
ment, made the announcement to Grant : — 

" General, we are surrounded. Wliat can we do ? '' 

" Cut our way out, sir, as we cut our way in," sa.d 
Grant. 

To some of the soldiers, who seemed to think them- 
selves captured. Grant said, "We whipped them once, 
and we can whip them again." 

Grant, here and always, acted on the principle so well 
expressed by an Irish soldier in the Niuth Massachusetts, 
who on one occasion, after being informed several times, 
by a conn-ade at his side, that they were defeated, at 
last shouted impatiently, " Niver b'leive y're whipped, 
man, till y're whipped yourself! " 

Logan, who afterwards became so distinguished, 
placed the colors in front, and moved at once upon 
the enemy.* 

* Hon. John A. Lognn was a Douglas Democrat, a member of Congress 
from Illinois, at the opening of the war. On the day of the first I)attle at 
Bull Run, he rode down from Wiishington as u visitor, but, on reaching the 



Battle of Bet mont. 23 

The fight was furious ; but tlie old flag steadily ad- 
vanced, and by five o'clock in the afternoon, our troops, 
having driven the enemy before them, reached their 
boats. 

While the troops were embarking, Grant sent out a 
detachment to bring in the wounded. He had posted 
a battalion in the morning as a reserve, who, when 
they saw the main body returning, thought it proper 
for them to return also without special order. They 
had done so, and without reporting to any one, — so little 
were our citizen-soldiers then accustomed to military 
forms. They could fight and die for the good cause ; 
but military experience they did not possess. Grant, 
supposing them still in position, rode back, with only a 
siniile member of his staff, to order their return. Sud- 
denly he came upon the whole rebel line, now re-formed 
to advance, and not fifty yards distant. He was an 
excellent mark for the rebel sharpshooters ; but he 
stopped, looked at the situation, then turned his horse, 
and rode slowly back to avoid an appearance of haste. 
Gen. Polk, who had seen him, called to his men, 
" There is a Yankee, if you want to try your aim ! " 
But the bullet destined to kill Grant was not there ; 
and he rode slowly back until nearing the boats, when 
the leaden rain hurried his horse into a gallop ; the 
animal fairly sliding down the river's bank on his 
haunches. 

A plank was quickly thrown out from one of the 
boats, over which he trotted his horse ; the balls now 

field, borrowed a rifle, asked permission to join a Michigan regiment, and 
fought in its ranks throughout the day. He is now Grand Commander of 
the Army of the Republic. 



24 Life of General Grant. 

flying around him in all directions. The transports 
moved off towards Cairo ; and the gunboats, by way 
of farewell, opened on the rebel force, now thronging 
the shore, with grape, canister, and five-second shells, 
which scattered them with terrible slaughter. The 
Federal loss was about four hundred men. The Rebel 
force was about seven thousand : their loss, as admitted 
by Pollard, was about seven hundred killed, and one 
hundred and seventy-five more taken prisoners. 

The battle was of much importance : it gave our 
fresh recruits confidence in themselves and in their 
leader. One incident in connection with this battle 
shows the nature of civil wars, which place friend 
against friend. Col. Wright of Tennessee, and Col. 
Foukc, had been friends in Congress. When they sepa- 
rated at Washington the preceding spring, Wright 
said, " Fouke, I expect our next meeting will be on the 
battle-field." They parted : one followed the flag of 
treason ; the other, the flag of his country. Their next 
meeting was on the field of Belmont, where Wright 
was killed, and sixty of his men taken prisoners by 
Col. Fouke's regiment. 

The next day, the following order was read to the 
troops : — 

Tlic general commanding this military district returns his 
thanks to the troops under his command at the battle of Belmont 
on yesterday. 

It has been Lis fortune to have been in all the battles fought in 
Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista ; and he 
never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with 
more gallantry. 

Such courage will insure victory wherever our flag may be 
borne and protected by such a class of men. 



Battle of Belmont. 25 

To the hrave who fell the sympathy of the country is due, and will 
be manifested in a manner unmii^takable. 

U. S. Grant, Drifj.-Gen. commanding. 

The same day, Grant wrote a private letter to his 
father, giving an account of the battle, from which the 
followinp; extracts are taken : — 

" The whole command, with the exception of a small reserve, 
was then deployed in like manner, and ordered forward. Tlie 
order was obeyed with gi-eat alacrity ; the men all showing great 
courage. I can say with great gratification, that every colonel, 
without a single exception, set an example to their commands, 
that inspired a confidence that will always insure victory when 
there is the slightest possibility of gaining one. I feel truly 
proud to command such men. 

" The object of the expedition was to prevent the enemy from 
sending a force into Missouri to cut off troops I had sent there 
for a special purpose, and to prevent re-enforcing Price. 

" Besides being well fortified at Columbus, their numbers far 
exceeded ours ; and it would ha^•e been folly to have attacked 
them. We found the Confederates Avell armed and brave. On 
our return, stragglers that had been left in our rear (now front) 
fired into us, and more recrossed the river, and gave us battle for 
a full mile, and afterwards at the boats when we were em- 
barking. 

" There was no hasty retreating or running away. Taking 
into account the object of the expedition, the victory was complete. 
It has given us confidence in the officers and men of this com- 
mand, that will enable us to lead them in any future engage- 
ment, without fear of the result." 

Much importance had been attached at the "War 
Department to retaining the recruits in camps, and 
making no movements until they had been thoroughly 



26 Life of General Grant. 

drilled and manoeuvred : but, after the battle of 
Belmoiit, Grant always entertained and acted on the 
opinion that such delay was useless ; that, where both 
parties are inexperienced, nothing is gained by delay. 



CHAPTER III. 



FORT HENRY. 



ON the 31st of August, Fremont issued his cele- 
brated order, declaring the slaves of rebels free 
men, .as follows : — 

" The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State 
of Missoui'i who shall take up arms against the United States, or 
shall be directly proven to have taken active part Avith their ene- 
mies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use ; 
and their slaves, if any they have, are declared to be free men." 

This was a blow aimed directly at the very heart of 
the Rebellion. Fremont was born in South Carolina, 
and knew slavery thoroughly. But the country was 
not ready for this. The Union must be preserved ; but 
slavery must not be hamied. President Lincoln di- 
rected the withdrawal of the order. Fremont request- 
ed that this should be done by the commander-in-chief; 
and ]\lr, Lincoln accordingly overruled it. Three 
years more of war and suifering were required before 
it was seen that God had his purposes in this civil 
conflict; and one of these was to " let the oppressed go 
free." 

Two days after the battle of Belmont, Nov. 9, Gen. 
Fremont was superseded by Gen. H. W. Halleck, 

27 



28 Life of General Grant. 

who soon after issued his equally celebrated Order 
No. 3, excluding " unauthorized persons "' from enter- 
ino- the army-lines. It was as follows : — 

" It has been represented that important information respect- 
in"- the number of our forces is conveyed to the enemy by means 
of iu'Titive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to 
remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be heruaiter 
permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the 
march ; that any now within such lines be immediately excluded 
therefrom. No fugitive slaves will therefore be admitted within 
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general 
commanding." 

The Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland, 
are the only rivers which were navigable from the 
southern lines of the free States into the States in 
rebellion. 

The rebels had, with great foresight, stretched a 
strategic line east from Columbus, on the Mississippi, 
which had been strongly fortified, two hundred miles to 
Bowling Green, in the centre of Kentucky ; crossing 
both the two last-named rivers at a right angle. Bowl- 
in<'- Green was at the junction of the Memphis and 
Ohio and Louisville and Nashville ltailrt)ads. 

About the centre of this line, near the boundary of 
Kentucky and Tennessee, the Cumberland and Ten- 
nessee Rivers approach within twelve miles of each 
other. Here the rel)els had erected two strong forts 
with o-reat skill and labor, — Fort Donelson on the 
Cumberland, Fort Henry on the Tennessee. But the 
forts were south of Columbus and Bowling Green ; so 
that these strongholds must both be evacuated when 
the forts were taken. 



Fort Henry. 29 

Grant perceived all this, of course, but had been 
required for two months to drill and organize his men. 
Late in January, 1862, he visited St. Louis in person 
to obtain permission to take these forts ; but the plan 
was not entertained. After his return. Grant tele- 
graphed to St. Louis, Jan. 28, " With permission, I 
will take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and 
establish and hold a large camp there." On the same 
day, Com. Foote, commanding the gunboats in that 
region, by a happy coincidence telegraphed as fol- 
lows : — 

Cairo, Jan. 28, 1862. 
Major-Gen. H. W. Halleck, St. Louis, Mo., commanding, — 

Gen. Grant and myself are of opinion that Fort Henry, on the 
Tennessee River, can be carried with four iron-clad gunboats, and 
troops to permanently occupy. Have we your authority to move 
for that purpose when ready ? 

A. II. FooTE, Flag-Officer. 

The reader can judge whether Gen. Grant requested 
Foote to send this despatch in aid of his request. 

Permission to move arrived on the 1st of February. 
The next day. Grant had left Cairo with seventeen 
thousand men on transports, accompanied by Foote 
with several gunboats. They sailed up the Ohio to 
the mouth of the Tennessee, then up the latter to 
within about eight miles of the fort where Gen. 
McClernand had selected a landing ; but Grant him- 
self pushed up the river on one of the gunboats to 
draw the fire from the fort and ascertain the range of 
their guns, which he satisfactorily learned by a thirty- 
two-poiind shot passing through the boat. 

He now determined to move his troops four miles up 



30 Life op General Grant. 

the river, to Bailey's Ferry ; and there they debarked. 
Both sides of the river Avere found to be fortified. 
The principal works were on the east side. A bas- 
tioned* front, with seventeen heavy gun embrasui'es, 
had been formed with sand-bags on the parapets be- 
tween the guns. On the land-front, there was a camp 
protected by a commanding line of rifle-pits, filled by 
Western sharpshooters. The fort enclosed about three 
acres. There were about three thousand rebel troops, 
under Brig-Gen. Tilghman. 

JMcClernand was ordered to move at eleven o'clock 
on the 6th to the rear of Fort Henry, on the road to 
Fort Donelson, to cut off retreat and re-enforcements. 
Gen. Smith was to seize Fort Heiman on the west 
bank of the river ; and the gunboats were to advance in 
two lines, and attack fr(jm the river. 

Com. Foote well knew that thousands of troops could 
not march as rapidly as his boats could steam up the 
river, and was by no means unwilling to do the princi- 
pal j)art of the bloody work liefore the land-force could 
arrive. Unlike Atlantis, who lingered in the race that 
she might be overtaken by her lover, Foote, emulous 
of glory, secretly rejoiced that he could not be over- 
taken or passed by the army ; and at the last moment, 
unable to conceal his anticipated success, he said to 
Grant, with a smile and bright twinkle in his eye, " I 
shall take Fort Henry before the troops arrive." 

The little fleet was composed of '' The Cincinnati," 

* Bastion, a projecting psirt of the main fort. E:MnKASUKE, an opening 
in a parapet for cannon. PAUArET, a breastwork for covering soldiei-s. 
Mine, a cavitj- under a fort, filled with powder. Trench, an excavation 
ma<le to cover troops advancing in a siege. I'akalij;!,, a wide trencii for 
communication between batteries. JIoat, a canal around a fort. 



FoET Henry. 31 

« Essex," " Carondelet," " St. Louis," " Conestoga," 
" Tyler," and " Lexington," — the first three iron-clads, 
the last wooden vessels. They engaged the forts at six 
hundred yards, opening a terrific cannonade, which was 
continued for nearly an hour with unabated fury. But 
the gallant commodore had ordered the men to "aim 
carefully," "fire steadily," and to "make every shot 
tell ; " and they did. At last, a twenty-eight-pound 
shot struck " The Essex " in a weak spot, and pierced 
her boiler. In an instant, the vessel was filled with 
scalding steam, killing and wounding nearly forty men ; 
among them Capt. W. D. Porter and both pilots. For 
a moment, the scene on board was appalling. The 
little vessel trembled in every timber, and now, struck 
in a vital part, like a strong man pierced in the heart, 
drifted slowly out of the fight. The rebels, thinking 
the attack repulsed, now made the Avclkin ring Avitli 
their shouts. But the remaining vessels continued 
their fire, as if determined to lift the fort, and ground 
which held it, bodily from the earth. In an hour and 
fifteen minutes the white flag was seen, upon which a 
boat was lowered ; and soon the national ensijin was 
raised over this stronirhold of treason amid lono;-con- 
tinned cheers. The short time within which the fort 
had been captured was a surprise to both Foote and 
Grant. The troops had been compelled to march eight 
miles around, through muddy roads, cutting their way 
through the woods, bnilding bridges across several 
streams ; and were unable to arrive until nearly an hour 
after Tilghman's surrender. This delay had permitted 
most of the garrison to escape. Gen. Tilghman, eleven 
on his staff, seventy men, sixteen invalids, barracks and 



32 Life of General Grant. 

tents for fifteen thousand soldiers, were captured. Grant 
instantl}'^ sent forward liis cavalry on the road to P'ort 
Donelson ; but they took only twenty or thirty men 
and a few guns. 

That Foote should at once have all the honor he dc 
served, Grant immediately telegraphed to Halleck, "Fort 
Henry is ours ! The gunboats silenced the batteries before 
the investment was completed. I shall take and destroy 
Fort Donelson on the 8th, and return to Fort Henry." 
The reader will remember that he had only asked per- 
mission to attack Fort Henry ; no allusion being made 
to Fort Donelson. And Foote, with the same spii'it, 
reported as follows : " The plan of the attack, so far 
as the army reaching the rear of the fort to make a 
demonstration simultaneously with the navy, was frus- 
trated by the excessively muddy roads and the high stage" 
of the water preventing the arrival of our troops until 
some time after I had taken possession of the fort." * 

Grant, althouoh he had received no orders to that 
eifect, determined to move at once ujion Fort Donelson, 
and ordered his entire force to be " ready to march by 
daylight " the next day. But the windows of heaven 
opened, and the floods came ; the streams were rivers, 
the roads mires ; the ground seemed turned into swamps. 

The gunboats had steamed up into the interior as far 
as Florence, Ala., some two hundred miles, and within 
two hundred and fifty miles of Montgomery, the capital 
of the so-called Confederacy. The novel sight drew the 
inhabitants to the river by thousands. Men, women, 
and children lined the shores; and the old flag was 
often saluted with loud huzzas, and tears of joy. 

♦ Foote's Report. 

i 



Fort Henry. 33 

Some of the scenes among the people were referred 
to in the following lines published at the time ; — 

" Massa ! Massa 1 Hallelujah ! 

The flag's come back to Tennessee I " 

" Pompey, hold me on your shoulder, 
• Help me stand on foot once more, 

That I may salute the colors 

As they pass my cabin-door. 
Here's the paper signed that frees you ; 

Give a freeman's shout with me : 
* God and Union ' be our watchword 
Evermore in Tennessee I " 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON, 

ON tlie 10th of February, Grant wrote to Foote, " I 
have been waithig very patiently for the return of 
the gunboats under Com. Phelps, to go around on the 
Cumberland, whilst I march my land-forces across to 
make a simultaneous attack upon Fort Donelson." 

It was six days before the army could be moved. 
Fort Donelson was a far more formidable place than 
Fort Henry. It enclosed nearly a hundred acres, on a 
bluff a hundred feet high. It was defended by sixty-five 
fnins,amon<i- them a ten-inch Columbiad, sixty-four and 
thirty-two pounders, water-batteries on the river, and 
on land felled timbers breast-high, — the whole garri- 
soned by about twenty-one thousand men. It was one 
of the strongest works in the South or North. 

Generals Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd were in com- 
mand. 

After the fiill of Fort Henry, the men had worked 
day and night to enlarge and render the works impreg- 
nable. Its importance to the Confederacy was well 
understood by the rebel government. It was the key to 
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. It had been made 
a lai-ge dep8t of supphes ; and its foil would compel the 
evacuation of Bowlino; Green, which had even then 

8i 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 35 

been parlially weakened to re-enforce Donelson, so im- 
portant was it deemed to hold the latter at all hazards. 

On the morning of the 12th, the army began its 
mai'ch : the bands played patriotic airs, the flags danced 
in the sunlight, and the men were determined to con- 
quer or die. Grant carried no tents or bao-o-ao-e ; he took 
only bullets, guns, and rations ; he threw up no intrench- 
ments ; his picks were pickets ; his spades were those 
described as having been used in the burial of Sir John 
Moore on the Heights of Coruna, — 

" We buried Mm darkl}' at dead of night, 
The sods with our bayonets turning." 

The exact number of the rebels was then unknown ; 
and, after giving directions as fully as possible, Grant 
added in his field-order, in reward to the details of the 
attack, "27ie necessary/ orders will be given on the field. ^' 

Gen. C. F. Smith had the left, and Gen J. A. Mc- 
Clernand had the right, of the national line, which was 
gradually extended to nearly three miles in length, in 
the fonn of a crescent. 

The men bivouacked in line of battle with their 
arms in their hands, and were constantly under fire 
fi'om the rebel breastworks. Many of the men had 
thoughtlessly thrown away their blankets. No fires 
could be lighted ; and near daylight there was a severe 
snow-storm. Through the night, the rebels dropped 
shells frequently over our hues ; and the suffering of our 
troops was very great. 

Before daylight, on Friday the 14th, the welcome 
sound of the gunboats was heard on the river, and 
Com. Foote arrived with four ironclads and two wooden 



36 Life op General Grant. 

gunboats. At three o'clock in the afternoon, they 
moved up to within four hundred yards of the heaviest 
guns of the fort. There, until halt-past four, they main- 
tained a most unequal hght. The elevation and num- 
ber of the rebel guns, their great weight of metal, both 
from the .ort and the water-batteries, placed the boats 
at a great disadvantaije. At last, the wheel of " The St. 
Louis " and the tiller of" The Louisville " were shot away, 
and they were rendered useless ; a rifled gun exploded 
upon another boat ; " The Carondelet " received a 120- 
pounder in one of her forward ports ; Com. Foote was 
wounded ; and the disabled fleet was compelled to fall 
back out of the range of the guns. 

Grant then wrote, " Appearances now are that we 
shall have a protracted siege here. ... I fear the result 
of an attempt to carry the place by storm with new 
troops. I feel great confidence, however, of ultimately 
reducing the place." 

Another night of piercing wind, snow, and sleet, came 
down upon the devoted soldiers. 

No regrets were heard, no impatience manifested. 
They only seemed eager for the hour when they could 
show traitors how brave men could fight and die for the 
land they loved. Grant seemed omnipresent. Without 
food or sleep he was everywhere, and yet appeared to be 
exactly at the place where required at the jn-oper moment. 

At two o'clock at night, he received the following 
note from the wounded commodore : — 

Flagship " St. Louis," Feb. 14, 1862. 
Gen. Grant, commanding United-States Forces. 

Dear Geneual, — Will you do me the favor to come on board 
at your earliest convciiioiiLe ? As I am disabled from walking, 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 37 

from a contusion, I cannot possibly get to see you about the dis- 
position of tlicse vessels, all of which arc more or less disabled. 

A. S. FooTE, Flag-Ojftcer. 

The rebels, seeing the gunboats retire, were greatly 
encourao-ed, and determnied to move out early Satur- 
day morning, drive back the Union line, overwhelm 
Grant's army, and win one of the greatest victories of 
the war. 

At daylight, Floyd massed his troops heavily on the 
left, who advanced ander Gen., Pillow against Mc- 
Arthur's brigade, on our extreme right, where our line 
was thin and weakest. They came on with a daring 
and bravery worthy of a better cause ; and for two 
hours the fighting was terrific. At this time, two or 
three of our reo-iments were broken, and one or two 
more were out of ammunition ; and the Union hue 
wavered. Gen. McClernand sent word back that Buck- 
ner had joined Pillow, and he should be destroyed 
unless re-enforced. 

Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, who commanded the centre, 
now advanced to his support, accompanied by Logan. 
Both were fearless, and both were magnetic men, who 
inspired their soldiers with their own indomitable spirit. 
They and their troops fought with a courage which 
drew forth the admiration of their enemies. But one 
regiment, misdirected by a guide, took the wrong road, 
and was delayed ; the ammunition was getting short ; 
and, after long and heavy fighting, the whole right wing 
had been pushed back by the furious and long-continued 
assaults of the rebel columns. 

Until this time. Grant had been in consultation with 
Foote, on the gunboat, three or four miles distant. 



38 Life op General Grant. 

He was now returning, and was met by an aide on full 
gallop to inform him of the state of affairs. Soon after, 
he met Gen. C. F. Smith, and decided that the rebels 
had probably massed almost their whole force for the 
attack against McClernand and Wallace. The battle 
was thou'T-ht to be lost. So it was at Marengo. " I see 
the battle is lost," said Dessaix to Napoleon as he arrived 
on the field. " I suppose I can do no more than secure 
your retreat." — "By no means," rephed Napoleon: 
"the battle is gained. Charge with your columns. 
The disabled troops will rally in your rear." 

Grant immediately ordered Gen. Smith on our left, 
who had not been engaged, to hold himself ready to 
advance with his whole force against the rebel right. 
He also sent back the following note to Foote, who 
had advised him to fortify, and wait until the fleet 
could be repaired and return : " A terrible conflict en- 
sued in my absence, which has demoralized a portion 
of my command. I think the enemy is much more so. 
If the gunboats do not appear, it will re-assure the en- 
emy, and still further demoralize our troops. ]\Iust 
order a charge to save appearances. I do not expect 
the rrunboats to fro into action." 

The men were ffcttino; wearv and exhausted Avith the 
fatigue and prodigious efforts of the last few days and 
nights. Grant always had a theory, that there comes a 
time like this m every hard-fought battle, when tired 
nature begins to yield, and that whichever party 
rallies and attacks at this time wins. But for two or 
three days to look over a field of a hundred thousand 
men, and amid the din, roar, and confusion of a battle, to 
weigh as in the hollow of the hand the rising and falling 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 39 

enthusiasm of the contending hosts, and then, with un- 
erring judgment, to select the one auspicious moment 
which leads to victory, — this is given only to the few 
great soldiers in the world's history. And then the 
fixed purpose, the unconquerable will to do or die, to 
scorn the weakness of the flesh, must always be there ; 
and they were there. 

It was noticed that the rebels had put on their knap- 
sacks and haversacks, instead of leaving them in the 
fort ; and some of our troops near Grant spoke of 
this, and said, " They have come out to stay for a battle 
of several days." 

" Are the haversacks filled, or empty ? " said Grant. 
No one could answer. 

" Examine some of the prisoners," said he. 

" They are filled ; they have three days' rations," 
was the report. 

" Nothing is little in the world," said Dr. Johnson, 
"to him who properly understands it." 

As soon as the report was made, Grant said, " Then 
they are trying to cut their way out : they do not mean 
to stay and fight. Whoever attacks now wins. They'll 
be quick if they beat me." 

And, dashing his spurs into his horse's flanks, he gal- 
loped off to Smith's division on the left, occasionally 
explaining to the officers and men as he passed, " They 
are whipped ; they are fighting to be allowed to retreat." 
He explained briefly, tliat he wished to attack them on 
their weakened right. It was thus Napoleon on the 
morning of Austerlitz, in almost the only instance in 
his life, explained to the French soldiers his plan of 
attacking the Russian centre on the Heights of Prutzen. 



40 Life of General Grant. 

Grant knew well that his bayonets reasoned ; that 
American soldiers could think as well as fight, and 
would understand and appreciate this confidence. He 
knew the war was a war of ideas, and that the seri- 
ous, intelligent convictions of men would carry them 
through a forlorn hope, or into a deadly breach spouting 
with fire, where the mere martial ardor of a military 
machine would quail to follow. Hamlet said, " Con- 
science makes cowards of us all ; " but " conscience also 
makes heroes of us all."* 

Grant now ordered Smith to advance, at the same 
time sending word to McClernand and Wallace to close 
up and be ready to attack. The men rallied ; the weary 
and the laggard in the rear came forward ; wounds were 
forgotten ; all caught the spirit of their leader. 

Gen. Smith was a veteran soldier : he had followed 
the stars and stripes through the battles of ^lexico to 
" the halls of the Montezumas." He was a man sixty 
years old, his hair white as the snow on the ground. As 
he rode down his line, forming his division for the attack, 
he was a fine target for the rebel rifles ; but the bullets 
showered unnoticed about him. His column was formed 
of Lauman's brigade ; the Second Iowa infantry having 
the front, followed by the Seventh, Fourteenth, and 
Twenty-fifth Indiana. He also told the soldiers what 
was to be done. This reciprocal confidence between 
the general and his soldiers was like that of a father 
and his sons ; and the enthusiasm of the soldiers was 
unbounded. As he took his place to lead the advance, 
his colors by his side, years seemed to drop from him 
like a mantle. Those near him said his countenance 

* Coleridge. 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 41 

blazed with the fire of 3'outh : he was young again. 
Putting liis cap on the point of his sword, he flung it 
toward the rebel intrenchments, and dashed forward 
into the thickest of the fight. So Conde, with a 
soldier's ardor, flung his marshal's hdton over the 
enemy's lines, sure of recovering it again. 

Nothino; could withstand the onset. Without firino- a 
gun, they charged directly on the intrenchments, carried 
them at the point of the bayonet, and forced their way 
to tlie summit of a hill, where artillery could be planted, 
and which was the key to the fort.* Wallace, too, had 
regained his lost ground, and driven Buckner back 
to within a hundred and fifty yards of his intrench- 
ments. 

Nio-ht now settled down on the field, with a battle 
imdecided. Smith, maintaining his commanding posi- 
tion, in vain protested that one half-hour more of day- 
liulit would o;ive us the victory. 

How many men, on how many battle-fields, have 
coveted the power of Joshua of old, — to stay the smi 
in the heavens ! 

Both parties had now been nearly four days and 
nio-hts under arms, and with almost continuous fiirhtino;. 
Some even had slept as they stood in line of battle, as 
McDowell, completely overcome, had dropped to sleep 
while writing in the telegraph-otfice his despatch to 
Washington after the first battle of Bull Run. 

And now the living lay down with the wounded, the 
dying, and the dead. Smith, wrapped in his cloak, 
rested among his men on the frozen ground. 

Grant found shelter in a negro hut.. Here, during 

* McPlierson's Report. 



42 Life of General Grant. 

tlie iiiglit, a fugitive slave who had escaped throufh 
the rebel lines made his -way to him to tell him that the 
enemy were retreating across the river, and desired to 
give him an account of their condition and the posi- 
tion of their forces. Grant was still under Ilalleck. 
Orders No. 3 and No. 13 were his military law : 
" Unauthorized persons must not be admitted within 
our lines." Should Grant admit the man, and talk 
with him, or read Order No. 3, call the guard, and 
liave him arrested and sent back to his owner ? One 
thing was not then, and is not now, generally known. 
When the war opened, Mrs. Grant, through her father, 
owned three slaves in ^Missouri. Grant privately, with- 
out talk, in his own right, issued three " emancipation 
proclamations," — one to each slave, tellijig them to go 
free. This man was unauthorized by Order No. 3 to go 
to headquarters ; but he was authorized to go by a 
"higher law," and that was his hatred of slavery and the 
love of freedom which God has planted in the soul of 
every human being. When Nelson, in the battle of Co- 
penhagen, was told that his commander had signalled for 
him to take his ship out of action, he put his spyglass 
to his blind eye, and said, " I don't see it : fire 
away ! " Then, turning to an officer, he said, " I have 
a right to be blind sometimes." So Grant did not read 
or obey Order No. 3, but acted like a man of common 
sense, and received the fugitive, listened to his story, 
and questioned him carefully. One officer suggested 
that perhaps the fellow was lying, and had been sent to 
entrap Grant in some manner; but the man said, — 

'' You may whip me, shoot me, cut me to pieces, if it 
ain't as I tells you." 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 43 

Within the fort a strange scene was enacting. Floyd 
called a council of war. The midnight conclave were 
to decide whether they should surrender, or renew the 
battle in the morning. Smith, at the south-west angle 
of the fort, could take other intrenchments in reverse. 
Buckner, opposite Smith's division, said he could not 
withstand any attack half an hour. It Avas evident they 
must surrender ; but now Floyd declared that he would 
not do this. 

History delights to tell us of the wounded Cambrone 
at Waterloo, who shouted, in defeat, " The Guard 
dies, but uever suiTenders ! " "I can desert, but not 
surrender ! " would have been the more appro])riate 
exclamation of Floyd. This was a becoming episode 
in Floyd's history. He had been Secretary of War un- 
der James Buchanan, and had been guilty of a " finan- 
cial irregularity," by which the government had lost 
nearly mne hundred thousand dollars, — an operation 
for which, in England, he would have been furnished 
with a passage to Botany Bay at government ex- 
pense ; but, that Gov. Floyd might rival the citi- 
zens of that celebrated colony, he united treason to 
theft, and now added to these desertion to the flao; he 
had chosen and the soldiers who had fought by his side. 

Gen. Pillow followed his example ; both declaring 
that " personal reasons controlled them ; " meaning, 
probably, the fear that they would be hung if they fell 
into the hands of the United States. Floyd turned 
his command over to Pillow, and Pillow to Gen. Buck- 
ner, who, like a soldier, had determined to share the 
fate of his men. He immediately sent a note in dijilo- 
matic style to Grant, suggesting an armistice. With- 



44 Life of Gener.'.l G?.-'uNT. 

out waitinjx an answer, Flovd and Pillow stole out in 
the dark, hopino; to get on board a boat, unknown to 
the soldiers ; but the men had rumors of what -their 
commanders were doing, and now crowded to the land- 
ing, where they greeted them with hisses and curses 
loud and deej).* 

A wiiile after, with the first streak of daylight, as 
Grant was preparing to attack, a white flag was seen 
fl)'ing from the ramparts of Fort Donelson ; and Grant 
received the following letter under a flag of truce : — 

Headquarters, Fort Donelson, Feb. 18, 1862. 
Sir, — In consideration of all the circumstances governing the 
present situation of atfairs at this station, I propose to the com- 
manding officer of the Federal forces the aj)pointment of corauiis- 
sioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces I hold 
under my command ; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until 

twelve o'clock to-day. 

S. B. BucKXER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

To Brig.-Gen. Grant, commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Donelsou. 

But Grant had learned during the night the true 
state of affairs, and instantly replied as follows : — 

Headquarters, Army in the Fif.lp, 

Camt near Donelson, Feb. 14, 1862. 

To Gen. S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army, — 

Yours of this date, proposing an armistice, and appointment of 
commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No 

* " Such was the want of all order and discipline by this time on shore, 
that a wild rush was made at the boat, which tiie captain said would swamp 
her unless he pushed olT immediately. This was done; and about sunrise, 
the boat on which I was — the other having gone — left the shore. , By this 
precise iniule I clVected my escape; aud, after leavnig the wharf, the flepnrf- 
mtnt will be plcisnJ to huar that I encountered no dangers whatever from the 
enemy." — Floy<rs litjxDi. 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 45 

terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be 
accejJted. I propose to move immediately upon your works. 
I am, sir, very respectfully yom- obedient servant, 

U. S. Gkaxt, Brig.-Gen. U. S. A. commanding. 

Gen. Buckner accepted these terms in the following 
reply : — 

Headquarters, Dover, Tenn., Feb. 15, 1862. 
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U. S. A. 

Sir, — The distribution of forces under my command incident 
to an unexpected change of commanders, ^nd the overwhelming 
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the bril- 
liant success of the Confederate arms yestei'day, to accept the 
ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. 
I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

S. B. Buckner, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

The results of this victory were sixty -five guns, 
seventeen thousand six hundred small-arms, nearly 
fifteen thousand soldiers, with horses, mules, and army 
supplies. Our loss was about two thousand men. 

After the surrender, up went the stars and stripes, 
greeted by tumultuous cheers ; and the sun shone 
bright and warm as if to illumine the victory. 

As the different divisions marched into the works, 
their regimental banners from diflPerent States, the mu- 
sic, the loud huzzas, the proud steps of the victorious 
s(jldiers, made one of the grand historic pictures of the 
war. 

Gen. Grant made his headquarters upon a boat 
which happened to have the significant name of " New 
Uncle Sam ; " and it was in the cabin of this steamer 
that the formal surrender was made. 



46 Life of General Grant. 

The interview between Grant and Buckner was 
social. J'liey had been classmates at AVest Point. 
Grant stated that he had no desire to Imniiliate the 
prisoners ; that the officers might retain their side- 
arms, but horses and public j)roperty must be given up. 
Gen. Buckner acknowledged that it had been tlie inten- 
tion of those in command to cut their way out ; but 
they were defeated by Grant's movements. 

When the transports were about to leave for the 
North with the rebel prisoners, Gen. Buckner asked 
Gen. Grant to visit his men, and, as they crowded 
around, told them that their victor had treated them 
with magnanimity and kindness. 

After a while, at a signal from Com. Foote, the boat 
with Gen. Grant and staff on board, followed by the 
gunljoat " Flotilla," steamed up past the fort to Dover, 
all the guns firing the national salute. 

Gen. Grant issued the following congratulatory order 
to his troops : — 



HZ-VOQCARTERS, DISTRICT OF WeST TeXSESSEE, 

Fort Doselson, Feb. 14, 1862. 

Tlae general commanding takes great pleasure in congratulat- 
ing the troops of this connnand for the triumph over rebellion, 
gained by their valor, on the 13th, 14tli, and loth instant. 

For four successive nights, without shelter, during the most 
inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in 
large force, in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly 
fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by 
science were added. Without a nnirniur this was borne ; pre- 
pared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skir- 
mishing by day, resulting, ultimately, in forcing the enemy to 
suiTcnder without conditions. 

The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will have 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 47 

in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number 
of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this continent. 

Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map 
of our united country ; and the men who fought the battle will 
live in the memory of a grateful people. 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 

Many interesting and amusing scenes occurred. It 
was here, on one of the transports laden with prison- 
ers, that probably the first slaveholders' objection to 
reconstruction was made. A tall, raw-boned, red- 
haired, blustering Mississippi captain had found that 
the hands on board the boat would not take his secesh 
paper for whiskey or food. When he could not control 
himself any longer, lie rushed up to a Northern man, a 
stranger, who was conversing near him, and said, 

" Look here : this is a d d pretty business. They 

talk of reconstructing the Union, and begin by reject- 
ing our money ; and I can get notliing to eat." * It 
was evident to his mind that reconstruction must stop. 

Buckner, on meeting Smith, congratulated him on his 
splendid charge. " Yes," said the old soldier, " it was 
well done, considering how small a force I had. But 
no congratulations are due to me : I simply obeyed 
orders." 

On the arrival of the news at Washington, Grant 
was immediately nominated as a major-general, and 
confirmed by the Senate the same day; his commission 
being dated on the IGth, the day of the surrender of 
Fort Donelson. 

Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, published a letter, 
in which he spoke of the victory in the following 

» C. C. Coffin. 



48 Life of General Grant. 

terms : " We may well rejoice at the recent victories ; 
for they teach us that battles are to be won now, and by 
us, in the same and only manner that they were ever 
won by any peojale, or in any age, since the days of 
Joshua, — by boldly })ursuing and striking the foe. 
What, under the blessings of Providence, I conceive 
to be the true organization of victory and military 
combination to end this war, was declared in a few 
words by Gen. Grant's message to Gen. Buckner, — '/ 
propose to move immediatdy ujwn your tvorks.' " 

Grant, who had spoken in the highest terms in his 
special report of " the brilliant charge of Gen. Smith," 
recommended him also for promotion to a major- 
generalcy ; and he was accordingly appointed, and 
confirmed by the ^^'ii'^^te. 

Gen. Smith died in about two months after the cap- 
ture of Donelson, from disease contracted in the Mexi- 
can War and the exposures of this campaign. It 
illustrates the characters of both Gen. Grant and Gen. 
Smith to mention that Gen. Smith was commandant 
at West Point when Grant was a cadet. He was also 
so much Grant's senior in years, that, when the latter 
found Gen. Smith under his command, he felt a little 
delicacy in issuing orders to his old instructor. Smith 
at once perceived this ; and, with the instinct of the 
gentleman and the sokher, said to Gen. Grant, " Let 
nothing in our past relations embarrass you in issuing 
to me any orders you think best : I am a soldier, and 
know my duty." 

" Thus," says Wordsworth, " these two things, con- 
tradictory as they seem, must go together, — manly 
dependence and manly independence." 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 49 

While these events were transpiring in camp, how- 
different was the scene at the same hour in the peace- 
ful cities and villages of the North ! It was a Sabbath 
morning when Fort Donelson surrendered ; the church- 
bells were ringing : and thousands of fathers, mothers, 
sisters, and brothers, were remembering and praying 
for their loved ones, far away on the tented field ; 
little thinking, that, in a few hours, their cheeks would 
blanch and their hearts sicken at the tidings that the 
dear ones would come home no more. Already, on the 
banks of the Cumberland, they were sleeping the sleep 
of the brave. 

" There are glad hearts and sad hearts 

By millions to-day, 
As over the wires the magical fires. 
Are flashing the tidings of Donelson's fray, — 
Hearts swelling with rapture 

For Donelson's capture, 
Hearts breaking with aching 
For Donelson's slain." 



CHAPTER V. 



BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



THE capture of Fort Donelson and its troops pro- 
duced a great effect throughout the whole country. 
It was the largest number of soldiers ever cai)tured in 
any battle on the continent, and first drew the atten- 
tion of the nation to Gen. Grant as the " coming 
man." 

The North welcomed the victory as establishing a 
new era in the war, — the era of active, offensive, per- 
sistent attack. Grant's words, " I propose to move 
immediately on your works," were everywhere quoted, 
and became a watchword throughout the country. 

The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were opened ; 
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, fell ; Columbus was 
abandoned; Bowling Green evacuated; and the States 
of Kentucky and Tennessee were rescued from the 
rebel armies. 

While preparing for the attack on Fort Donelson, 
Grant had asked Sherman, with whom he was not then 
on any terms of special intimacy, for troops and sup- 
plies. Sherman forwarded them with great vigor, and, 
although the senior officer, wrote to Grant as follows : 
" I will do every thing in my power to hurry forward 
your re-enforcements and supplies ; and, if I could be of 

50 



Battle op Shiloh. 61 

service myself, would gladly come without making any 
question of rank with you or Gen. Smith." 

These two distinguished men, thus brought together, 
ever after acted in entire harmony ; no envy, no jeal- 
ousy, except for the honor of each other. Their natures 
were different, but well formed to act together. Their 
official relations ripened into a personal friendship, never 
yet interrupted, and fortunate alike for their own fame 
and their country's glory. 

Gen. Grant was assigned to the district of West Ten- 
nessee, and on the 23d of February issued the following 
order : — 

The major-general commanding this department desires to 
impress upon all officers the importance of preserving good order 
and discipline among these troops and the arjuies of the West 
during their advance into Tennessee and the Southern States. 

Let us show to our fellow-citizens of these States that we come 
merely to crush out this rebellion, and to restore to them peace 
and the benefits of the Constitution and the Union, of which they 
have been deprived by selfish and unprincipled leaders. They 
have been told that we come to oppress and plunder. By our acts 
we will undeceive them. AVe will prove to them that we come to 
restore, not violate, the Constitution and the laws. In restoring 
to them the glorious flag of the Union, we will assure them that 
they shall enjoy under its folds the same protection of life and 
property as in former days. 

Soldiers, let no excesses on your part tarnish the glory of our 
arms. The orders heretofore issued from this department in regard 
to pillaging, marauding, and the destruction of private property, 
and the stealing and concealment of slaves, must be strictly en- 
forced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the rela- 
tion of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the 
civil courts. No fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within 
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general 
commanding. Women and children, merchants, farmers, and all 



62 Life op General Grant. 

persons not in arms, are to be regarded as non-combatants ; and are 
not to be molested, either in their persons or property. If, how- 
ever, they assist and aid the enemy, tliey become belligerents, and 
■will be treated as such. As they violate the laws of war, they will 
be made to suffer the penalties of such violation. 

Military stores and public property of the enemy must be sur- 
rendered ; and any attempt to conceal such property, by fraudulent 
transfer or otherwise, will be punished. But no private property 
will be touched, unless by order of the general commanding. 

Whenever it becomes necessary, forced continbutions for supplies 
and subsistence for our troops will be made. Such levies will be 
made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no 
distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted 
fully, and accepted for as heretofore directed. 

These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, and 
all officers are commanded strictly to enforce them. 

By command of Major-Gen. Halleck. 
W. H. McLean, Adjulant-General. 

By order of Maj.-Gcn. U. S. Graxt. 
J. A. Rawlins, A. A.G. 

At this time, a coldness occurred between Gen. Hal- 
leck and Gen. Gi'ant, which the former afterwards ex- 
plained to have been caused partly by the failure of 
colonels of regiments to report to him on their arrival, 
and partly from an interru])tion of telegraphic communi- 
cation. During the few weeks in which it continued, 
Gen. Grant submitted to the displeasure of his superior 
in the best temper and spirit, and telegraphed from day 
to day as follows : — 

" I am not aware of ever having disobeyed any order from your 
headquarters, — certainly never intended such a thing. ... In 
conclusion, I will say that you may rely on my carrying out your 
instructions in every particular, to the best of my ability. ... I 
did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command. 
Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff, who 
must have failed to keep you properly posted. I have done my very 



Battle of Shiloh. 63 

best to obey orders, and to carry out the interests of the service. 
If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not 
wish in any way to impede the success of our arms. ... I do not 
feel that I have neglected a single duty." 

The regimental officers at Fort Henry, on the ground, 
and appreciating the true state of the case, on the 12th 
of March presented Gen. Grant with a magnificent 
sword, the blade of the finest steel, the handle of ivory- 
mounted with gold, with two scabbards, one of polished 
steel for service, one of gilt for parade, all appropriately 
inscribed. 

On the 17th, Grant established his headquarters at 
Savannah, on the Tennessee River, n hundred and sev- 
enty-five miles south of Nashville, and near the northern 
corner of Alabama and Mississippi. There were with 
him Generals McClernand, Wallace, Smith, Hurlbut, 
and Sherman. Eio-ht miles down the river is Pittsburg 
Landing ; three miles south of it is Shiloh ; sixteen miles 
beyond is Corinth. 

When the I'ebels were compelled to evacuate Colum- 
bus, they fortified Corinth, just over the line of the State 
of Mississippi, east of JNIemphis, at the junction of the 
Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads. 
It was one of the most important points in the whole 
South-west, from Memphis to the Gulf of Mexico. 
From there a rebel force could advance into Kentucky, 
cross the Ohio River, and move north. It was the 
centre of the vast network of railroads m tlie South- 
western States. 

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest, if 
not the ablest, of the rebel generals, had been placed in 
command ; and rumor gave him from fifty to a hundred 



54 Life of General Grant. 

tliousand troops. With him were Beauregard, Polk, 
Hardee, and Breckinridge. He was near the cotton 
States, the hot-bed of secession, in a region wliose 
resources were then untouched by the war. 

Sherman and Hurlbut were at Shiloh ; Wallace at 
Crump's Landing, five miles below. This was their posi- 
tion when Grant arrived. Within an hour, he issued 
orders for them to concentrate ; and McClernand and 
Smith were moving up to Pittsburg Landing. Grant 
remained for a few days to superintend the forwarding 
of supplies and re-enforcements. When his arrange- 
ments were made to move his headquarters to Pittsburg 
Landing, Gen. Buell, who was advancing from Nashville, 
telegi'aphed him to remain at Sa%'annah, to meet him in 
consultation April 5. 

Grant had apprehended an early movement by John- 
ston, but was ordered not to brinix on a general enirage- 
ment until Buell should arrive. 

On the 3d and 4th, there was skirmishing on Sher- 
man's front ; but he thought there would be no battle 
immediately. Grant visited him on the 4th, and agreed 
in his opinion. It was in returning at night from this 
visit that Grant's horse slipped on a log, and fell on his 
rider, injuring him so severely that he did not recover 
for some time. This accident is said to have originated 
the slanders in regard to Grant's habits. Both Grant 
and Sherman were in error. But the skirmishing 
required watchfulness. Grant ordered W. H. L. 
Wallace to hold himself ready to support Lewis Wal- 
lace, and said, — 

" Should you find danger of this sort, rc-enforce him at once 
•with your entire division." 



Battle of Shiloh. 55 

To Sherman he wrote, — 

" Information just received would indicate that the enemy are 
sending a force to Purdy. 

" I should advise, therefore, that you advise your advance guards 
to keep a sharp lookout for any movement in that direction ; and, 
should such a thing be attempted, give all the support of your di- 
vision, and Gen. Hurlbut's, if necessary." 

To Halleck, on the 5th, he wrote, — 

" Our outposts had been attacked by the enemy, apparently in 
considerable force. I imu^ediatcly went up, but found all quiet. 
... I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one) 
being made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take 
place." 

The field of Shiloh was hounded east by the Tennes- 
see River, west by Owl Creek, north by Snake 
Creek, and south by Lick Creek, and was about three 
miles in area between the boundary-lines. The enemy 
advanced from the south. 

Johnston's force comprised about seventy thousand 
men. This was stated by all the prisoners, spies, and de- 
serters. Beaureo;ard acknowledfjed to have had over 
forty-three thousand after the defeat. The whole Union 
army was about thu'ty thousand. Buell was ordered to 
re-enforce Grant from Nashville with forty thousand men, 
and was hourly expected. 

Sherman was in front with Prentiss and Stuart ; Mc- 
Clernand was partly behind Sherman, in a diagonal line, 
the left of which extended between Sherman and Pren- 
tiss ; Hurlbut was some distance in the rear of Pren- 
tiss, toward Pittsburg Landing. This was the position 
of affairs, Sunday morning, April 6. 



56 Life of General Grant. 

Grant was at Savannah, waiting for Buell. Buell 
was a sloiv man, a good officer when he arrived, a good 
tactician, handled his men in fine style on the field ; but 
he had not learned the value of time in war. He or- 
dered the divisions of his army to move six miles apart. 
There are men who are always late. They were late 
at school, late at their wedding, late in their business 
appointments, late at the cars, late at their meals ; in a 
word, behind time on all occasions, private and public. 
They can be honest in all things but the time and 
patience of others ; and these -they constantly pilfer. 
Buell was one of this class. 

The rebels knew this ; and they planned to advance 
and crush Grant with his little army before Buell ar- 
rived, and then crush Buell. Sabbath morning, Grant's 
horse stood saddled at the door of liis tent ; and he was 
about starting to see if he could not find Buell, and 
hurry him up, when he heard lieavy firing in the direc- 
tion of Shiloli. The first few guns told him the story, 
and he instantly started the following note to Buell : — 

" Heavy firing is heard up the river, indicating plainly that an 
attack has been made upon our most advanced positions. I have 
been looking for this, but ilid not believe the attack could be made 
before Monday or Tuesday. This necessitates my joining the forces 
up the river, instead of meeting you to-day, as I had contemplated. 
I have directed Gen. Wilson to move to the river with his division. 
lie can march to opposite Pittsburg." 

He Stopped on his way at Crump's Landing, and told 
Lewis Wallace that a battle had begun. He then rode 
to Sherman's headquarters, where he arrived about 
eight o'clock. 

The night previous, Johnston had moved up in front 



Battle of Shiloh. 67 

of Sherman, with double guards in his own fi'ont, or- 
dered to shoot any man who attempted to pass ; and at 
earlj day had precipitated his whole army upon the 
two feeble divisions of Sherman and Prentiss. But 
Sherman was there, and during the day showed that he 
was an army in himself. 

In the morning, Beaureguard promised his cavalry 
that " they should water their horses in the Tennessee 
before sunset." The Cossacks, on leaving Russia, 
threatened that theirs should " drink of the Seine, be- 
neath the windows of the Tuileries." The Cossacks 
kept their word. 

Our troops were many of them raw, and had never 
been under fire. Some even had gone out without 
cartridges, and early fell back against the overwhelming 
odds. This alarmed others : a panic ensued ; and five 
or six thousand men began falling back towards the 
landing. Sherman and Prentiss did all that men could 
do, but without avail. Sherman was shot in the hand ; 
but, winding a handkerchief about the wound, he rode 
on. His horse was shot under him : he jumped on an- 
other, and continued his eflforts to rally and re-form the 
troops. 

As Grant hurried to the front, he encountered the 
fugitives, and was everywhere told, " We are beaten ! 
we are beaten ! " "Our regiment is cut to pieces ! " 
" The battle is lost ! " But he did not see it. No. 
Fate seemed determmed that Grant should be at a dis- 
tance when his great battles began, — on duty, it is true, 
but absent, as if to show what the addition of one man 
to a hundred thousand amounts to. Wellington said, 
*'I consider the presence of Napoleon on any battle- 



58 Life of General Grant. 

field equal to a re-enforcement of forty thousand troops." 
Often during the war there were calls for two and 
three hundred thousand men. After a while, it came 
to be seen tliut there was only one man more wanted. 

Grant made his way to the front, where he found 
Sherman riding about among rifle-balls, cannon-shot, 
and shells, as if he bore a charmed life. Wherever the 
shot fell the fastest and the thickest, there was Sher- 
man. He was untiring in his efforts ; cool, daring, and 
full of fight. 

Grant congratulated him on the stand he had made : 
things looked badly ; but the army was not to be 
whipped. Grant, before starting, had thoughtfully 
given orders to forward all day supplies of ammuni- 
tion. Messengers were sent again and again to the 
commandez-s in the rear to come up. He endeavored 
during the forenoon to re-form the broken regiments, to 
put the disorganized troops into position. Meanwhile 
the rebels, greatly encouraged by their first success, 
steadily advanced. The conflict was deadly, and raged 
with increasing fury. It recalled Lannes' description of 
the battle of Montcbello : " I could hear the bones crash 
in my division like glass in a hail-storm." 

At half-past four, in the afternoon, our forces had 
been driven to within half a mile of the landing. 
Grant listened for Bucll's guns. About this time. 
Gen. Buell, who had heard the firing at a great dis- 
tance, had ridden on with his staff in advance of his 
army, and reached the field. Seeing the desperate 
state of afl'airs, he asked Grant, — 

*S What ])reparations have you made to secure your 
retreat, general ? " 



Battle of Shiloh. 59 

" We shall not retreat, sir." 

" But it is possible," added Buell ; " and a prudent 
general always provides for contingencies." 

" Well, there are the boats," said Grant. 

" The boats ! " said Buell. " But they will not hold 
over ten thousand men, and we have thirty thousand." 

" They will hold more than we shall retreat with. 
We shall whip them yet," was Grant's characteristic 
reply. 

Hurlbut's and W. H. L. Wallace's commands fought 
with stubborn valor. They could be forced back slowdy 
by the rebel host ; but they covered the ground with 
their own and the enemy's dead as they receded ; and 
among them, at last, Wallace himself fell. 

Late in the afternoon, when all seemed lost, on a 
ravine not far from the landing. Col. Webster of Grant's 
staff, a splendid artillery-officer, collected a battery of 
twenty-two guns in a semicircle, which the rebels did 
not silence. Gunners were called for ; and a surgeon of 
one of the Missouri regiments, Dr. Cornyn, thought his 
professional experience in surgery was no disqualifica- 
tion, and insisted on taking a place at the guns. 

Rebel batteries were moved up, and opened fire ; but 
now the gunboats " Tyler " and " Lexington " joined 
in the fight with 7-inch shell and 64-pound shot. 
Buell arrived, but too late. 

At this time, Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond 
as follows : — 

We have this morning attacked the enemy in strong position in 
front of Pittsburg ; and after a severe battle of ten hours, thanks 
to Ahnighty God ! gained a complete victory, driving the enemy 
from every position. 



60 Life of General Grant. 

Tlie loss on both sides is heavy, including our commander-in- 
chief, Gen. Albert Siiluey Johnston, who fell, gallantly leading his 
troops into the thickest of the fight. 

G. T. Beauuegard, General commanding. 

It was at this time that Grant made about the only 
attempt at rhyme of which we have any record. The 
excellent staff-surgeon, Dr. Hewitt, seeing the A'ast 
numbers of the wounded, was disj^osed to take a de- 
sponding view, and expressed a belief that the enemy 
would di'ive us. Grant tried to rally those about him 
into good spiiits, and said, — 

" Major Hewitt 

Says they can do it : 
General Grant 

Says they can't ! " 

It was then, too, that Grant, as Sherman afterwards 
related,* told him the story of Donelson, of the disas- 
ters early in the day ; and expounded to Sherman, no 
doubt an easy convert, his ever-favorite theory of the 
mutual exhaustion of both armies in every great battle, 
when, by some vast power, yon must rouse your own, 
and go in to triumi)h. lie thought the rebels were about 
in the right condition then, and, if it were not night, 
should attack ; but gave orders that they " should be 
attacked at daylight ^ 

It must be owned, it is difficult to defeat such a man : 
because he assumes that you Avill fight hard and fight 
long; that both armies will do all that mortal men can be 
expected to do ; but that then he will select a moment 
when his own shall do something more. But that he,^ 

* Shaman's Letter to the Annv ami Navy Gazette. 



Battle of Shiloh. 61 

or those following him, shall be the party to fail, he 
never believes. There are men in whom this would 
seem to be conceit and over-weening self-confidence ; 
but there is a class of men in whom it is the natural 
fruit of conscious power. Be careful how you encoun- 
ter them. 

" Who sails with me comes to shore," said Caesar. 

" You never were on a boat with me before, I think," 
said Jackson to a nervous gentleman on a rickety 
steamer in a dangerous storm. 

It had been a terrible battle, one of the most bloody 
that occurred in the war. Gen. Johnston, the rebel 
leader, had been killed, but, with the intrepidity of the 
American soldier, sat motionless on his horse after he 
was shot, not moving until he was lifted out of his sad- 
dle. Beauregard was in command. W. H. L. Wal- 
lace was mortally wounded Prentiss was captured with 
two thousand men. Grant had been struck, but not 
injured ; and the wounded, the dying, and the dead, of 
both armies, covered the field to the number of about 
twenty thousand men. The Federal camp was in pos- 
session of the enemy. 

The shells fiom the gunboats, dropping into the woods 
during the night, set them on fire ; and the sufferings of 
the helpless wounded were terrible, and Avould have 
been aggravated but for the copious rain, which partly 
quenched the fire, and mitigated their anguish. 

Few except eye-witnesses can form a conception of 
the sufferings of a battle-field. " What a glorious sight 
must be a great victory!" said a lady to Wellington. 
" The saddest sight in the world, madam, except a 
defeat," was the reply. 



62 Life of General Grant. 

It is not generally known, that, among the wounded, 
the most acute anguish is from thirst. A man will live 
lono-er without food than without water. Water is 
essential to all vital existence, except that of mosses. 
Indeed, the ancients beUeved that water was the parent 
of all things.* 

The torture of thirst is always increased tenfold by 
the loss of blood. And these poor beings, unable to 
move, were compelled to lie all night : sometimes the 
flames were crackling about them ; sometimes they 
would throw their heads back, and thrust out their 
tongues, hoping to catch a few drops of the falling rain. 
Here was a headless body ; there was a disembowelled 
corpse ; near would be a man weakly struggling to 

* Tliis theory was partly drawn from the Mosaic account of the creation. 
The same is taught in the Koran. And Milton, in " Paradise Lost," accept- 
ing this belief, writes, — 

" On the watery calm 
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, 
And vital virluc infused, and vital warmth. 
Throughout the fluid mass." 

It was chosen in the jiarable to represent with most power to the minds 
of men the unutterable torture of the lost: " Let him dip the tip of his fin- 
ger in water, and cool my tongue." It was the only bodily suflering which 
extorted utterance amid the agonies of the crucifixion, — " I thirst;" and 
the cruel refusal to mitigate it was all that was needed to wring from the 
convulsed lips of the dying, " It is finished." Children have remembered 
through life a glass of water given them on some occasion when enduring 
extreme thirst; and invalids nursed in homes of comfort and luxury have 
described for years the sensation of cold water, given to them when burning 
and parched with fever, rendering literally as well as poetically true tha 
lines of Talfourd : — 

" Its draught 
Of cool rpfrcshmrnt, drained by fevered lips, 
Will srivp a shock of jileasure to the frame 
More cx(tuisite flian wlicn nectarian juico 
Keuewi the life of joy in happiest hour*." 



Battle of Shiloh. • 63 

j&'ee himself from a pile of corpses. Men, horses, 
mules, mingled in every form of mutilation ; the shells 
screeching and the cannon-balls flying above them, the 
flames threatening to burn them alive. At times, the 
held seeming to be a bed of fire, except where drowned 
with pools of blood, — friends unable to reach them. 
And so those who survived wore the long hours of the 
night away. A vast field of carnage and woe ! If 
angels weep, there were tears in heaven. And this 
was war, but only one scene in a war made and con- 
tinued for four years, that a few men might buy and 
sell human beings. 

But, when the morning dawned, these brave men 
again welcomed the old flag with cheers as they saw 
the advancing re-enforcements of BuelFs divisions, and 
regiment after regiment marched into position for the 
final struggle. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING. 

TOWARD morning, Gen, Grant lay down on the 
ground in the storm, with a hig for his pillow, and 
" slept soundly." Thus Alexander slept on the night 
before the battle of Arbela ; so Conde slept on the eve 
of the battle of Rocroi ; so Napoleon slept on the 
field of Bautzen. 

The talent for sleeping soundly when great events 
are impending is not one of the least elements of 
success. The power of going without sleep, or of 
commanding it when needed, which some men possess, 
is a great gift. That commander is more to be dreaded 
who comes to the field with all the energies of his body 
and mind restored by refreshing sleep, than the 
nervous, excitable man who is jaded out with restless- 
ness and anxiety. The affairs of life look very differ- 
ently in the morning to the man who has slept soundly 
than they do to the man who has tossed in feverish 
worry. Success in life is often as much an affair of 
the body as the mind.* 

* " As a torch stives a better light, a sweeter smell, according to the 
matter it is made of, so doth our soul perfonii all her actions, better or worse, 
as her organs are disposed ; or, as wine savoi^s of the cask wherein it is 
kept, the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works." — 
Biirlon's Anatomy of Mtlartcholy. 
64 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 65 

During the night, some of Buell's men had crossed 
over the river in the rain : and the Hne now had Lewis 
Wallace on the right ; then Sherman, McClernand, 
Hurlbut, with the heroes of Fort Donelson ; and 
McCook, Crittenden, and Nelson, on the left. Grant 
ordered an attack at daylight, on Monday the 7th, 
along his whole line, as if there had been no fighting 
for three months. The hall was opened by Nelson's 
division, which soon di'ew upon itself the fire of almost 
the whole rebel force. His artillery not having come 
up, his men suffered severely from the rebel batteries, 
until silenced by those of Capts. Mendenhall and 
Terrill, whom Grant sent to Nelson's support. Oppo- 
site Wallace was the fiimous Crescent Regiment from 
New Orleans, and the Washington Artillery of Manas- 
sas renown. 

Beauregard could be seen riding in front, and excit- 
ing them to the utmost. 

Sherman now steadily pressed forward to a point 
about fifteen hundred feet east of Shiloh Church, from 
which he had been driven on Sunday morning, and 
where Beauregard slept on Sunday night. Here the 
rebel army was plainly seen re-forming, regimental 
colors flying, and bands playing. A rebel battery was 
pounding grape and canister into our forces with terri- 
ble effect. Two brigades, under T. Kirby Smith and 
Rousseau, charged, and carried it at the point of the 
bayonet. 

By two o'clock, Grant had driven the enemy, all the 
while fighting stubbornly, nearly five miles beyond his 
own line of battle on Sunday. An " impressed New- 
Yorker," who was with the Confederate army, wrote, — 

6 



66 Life of General Grant. 

" No heroism of officers or men could avail to stay 
the advance of the Federal troops." 

Late in the afternoon, Grant, standing on a little 
knoll, saw the First Ohio marching to another portion 
of the held. One of our regiments, in line of battle, 
had been so thinned and weakened, that it was evident 
that it must give way soon, although fighting to drive 
the enemy from one of the last important positions 
w^hich they held. Grant saw the time for the final 
blow had come : he instantly halted the regiment, and 
showed himself to the men, who received him with 
ringing cheers. He, drawing his sword, ])laccd himself 
at their head, and shouting, " Now's tlie time to drive 
them ! " led them across the field, while the cannon- 
balls were fallino; like hail-stones around him. The 
enfeebled regiment, seeing the detenniiied gallantry of 
their leader, closed up, joined in the charge as if just 
arrived on the field, and swept the enemy from their 
last stronghold. 

The rebels were now evidently retreating. Grant, 
like Blucher, was anxious to send "the last man and 
the last gun after them." But it was represented to 
him that the roads were almost impassable, and that the 
condition of the men was such that some rest was 
absolutely indispensable. After twenty hours' fighting, 
he reluctantly yielded to these representations for a 
few hours of repose. They encamped on the field 
from which they had first been driven. Early the next 
morning, however, cavalry were sent out on the road 
to Corinth to follow the retreating army. They found 
the route strewn with havi-rsacks, muskets, blankets, 
and all the evidences of a flying foe. 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 67 

Grant's loss had been about twelve thousand. Beau- 
regard admitted his to be about eleven thousand ; Ijut 
those who buried the rebel dead estimated his loss flir 
laro-er, — some even as high as twenty thousand. 

The battle was mainly decided at night, on Sunday, 
when our forces repulsed the last rebel assault at the 
ravine. 

Beauregard, in his report of Sunday's battle, says, 
" Our troops fought bravely, but with the want of 
that animation and spirit which characterized them the 
preceding day." 

The slaughter on both sides was terrific. Sherman 
described it as the most dreadful which he saw in the 
war. Grant says he only saw its equal in the Wilder- 
ness. In some divisions, the killed and wounded were 
thirty per cent of the numbers who went into the 
action. Regiments, in some instances, were com- 
manded by lieutenants, and brigades by majors. 

Yet the determination and endurance were truly won- 
derful. A ball was extracted from the brain of one 
soldier, who, three days after, was on duty with the 
bullet in his pocket. A rifle-ball passed through the 
head of a member of the First Missouri Artillery with- 
out killing him.* 

The battle-field and the dead were in the possession 
of the victors. 

Gen Grant issued the following congratulatory 
order : — 

Headquarters, District of West Tennessee, 

Pittsburg, April 8, 1862. 
General Orders, No. 34. 

The general commanding congratulates the troops who so gal- 
lantly maintained their position, repulsed and routed a numerically 

• * Surgical Reports. 



68 Life of Geneeal Grant. 

superior force of the enemy, composed of the flower of the South- 
ern army, commanded by their ablest generals, and fought by 
them with all the desperation of despair. 

In numbers engaged, no such contest ever took place on this 
continent ; in importance of result, but few such have taken place 
in the history of the world. 

Wliilst congratulating the brave and gallant soldiers, it be- 
comes the duty of the general commanding to make special notice 
of the brave wounded and those killed on the field, ^^^lilst they 
leave friends and relations to mourn their loss, they have won a 
nation to gratitude, and undying laurels not to be forgotten by 
future generations, who will enjoy the blessings of the best gov- 
ernment the sun ever shone upon, preserved by their valor. 

By command of Major-Gen. Graxt. 
John A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 

Of Gen. Sherman he said in his official report, " I 
was greatly indebted for his promptness in forwarding 
to me, during the siege of Fort Donelson, re-enforce- 
ments and supplies fi'om Paducah. At the battle of 
Shiloh, on the first day, lie held with raw troops the 
key-point to the landing. To his individual efforts I 
am indebted for the success of that battle. Twice hit, 
and several (I think three) horses shot under him, on 
that day, he maintained his position with raw troops. 
It is no disparagement to any other officer to say that 
I tlo not believe that there Avas another division com- 
mander in the field who had the skill and experience 
to have done it." 

Tuesday morning, Beauregard asked permission to 
bury his dead, as follows : — 

IIeapqiartkhs, Dki'artmext of Mississippi, 
MoNTEUEV, April 8, 1862. 

Sir, — At the close of the conflict yesterday, my forces being 
exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 69 

they were engaged with yours on that and the preceding day, and 
it being apparent that you had received re-enforcements, I felt it 
to be my duty to withdraw my troops from the immediate scene 
of the conflict. Under these circumstances, in accordance with 
the usages of war, I shall transmit this, under a flag of truce, to 
ask permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field of 
Shiloh for the purpose of giving decent interment to my dead. 
Certain gentlemen wishing to avail themselves of this opportunity 
to remove the remains of their sons and friends, I must recjuest 
for them the privilege of accompanying the burial-party ; and in 
this connection I deem it proper to say, I am asking what I have 
extended to your own countrymen under similar circumstances. 
Respectfully, general, your obedient servant, 

P. G. T. Beauregard, General commanding. 
To Major-Gen. U. S. Grant, commanding U. S. Forces, Pittsburg. 

Grant, in reply, sent the following : — 

Headquarters, Army in the Field, 
Pittsburg, April 9, 1862. 
To Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, Commanding Confederate Army on Mis- 
sissippi, Monterey, Tenn., — 

Your despatch of yesterday is just received. Owing to the 
warmth of the weather, I deemed it advisable to have the dead of 
both parties buried immediately. Heavy details were made for this 
purpose, and it is now accomplished. Tliere cannot, therefore, be 
any necessity of admitting within our lines the parties you desired 
to send, on the grounds asked. I shall always be glad to extend 
any courtesy consistent with duty, and especially so when dic- 
tated by humanity. 

I am, general, respectfully your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-Genei-al commanding. 

The immense numbers wounded and slain durino; 
these two days called forth the beneficent operations of 
the Sanitary Commission, which were continued through- 
out the war on a gigantic scale. Steamers crowded 
with physicians and nurses, and loaded with all neces- 



70 Life op General Grant. 

sarles and delicacies for the sick, were immediately de- 
spatched to tlie scene of battle, and every effort made to 
mitifi-ate the suffcrino;s of the wounded. 

This commission was one of the wonderful demonstra- 
tions of the war, and received Gen. Grant's earnest 
support and co-operation. The civilization and Chris- 
tianity of Europe had for centuries beheld contending 
hosts march out and deluge the earth with their blood ; 
bvit the care of the wounded Avas restricted to the army 
officials, and such limited aid as they could render. It 
was reserved for the people of America to exhibit to 
the world the most majestic proof of love and devotion 
to their coiiutry ; giving a million and a half of men 
to its service ; then folloAving in the wake of its armies 
with thousands of volunteer surgeons, physicians, and 
nurses, — women and men bountifully supplied with 
every comfort and luxury of the sick-chamber, eager 
to dress the wounded, care for the sick, write messages 
of love for the helpless, pray with the dying, — shrinking 
from no office that poor humanity could need ; and, 
when all was over, tenderly embalming and forwarding 
their lifeless remains to the homes they had left. Such 
a people could not be conquered. 

Sherman said, " It was necessary that a combat 
fierce and bitter, to test th.e manhood of the two armies, 
should come off; and that was as good a place as any." 
The battle made the North and South better acquainted 
with the character of the Northern and Southern sol- 
diers. It showed the North that the Southern soldier 
who could brag could also fight ; it showed the South 
that the Northern soldier could " stand, and, having 
done all, stand." There was less talk after that of " one 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 71 

Southerner whipping five Yankees," — the bluster with 
which the rebels opened the war. They found that the 
" mudsills " of the North, as Senator Hammond of South 
Carolina called the men who held the plough and handled 
the trowel, shoved the jackplane and swung the sledge, 
chd not fear in battle the face of animated dust. The 
Southern soldier had the ardor, the vehemence, the en- 
thusiasm, the self-assertion, of the French, — the same 
which carried the French cavalry up to the enemy's 
ranks until they rattled then' sabres upon their muskets. 
They came on with terrific "yells," which seemed to 
demand a victory as a thing of course ; but they had not 
the "hold-on," — the grip which yields only to death 
itself. They wanted to cany every thing with a dash, 
and, if resisted firmly, after a while gave way. 

The Northern soldiers did not " yell," — they 
" cheered," and oftener after victory than before. Like 
the Spartans of old, who did not need martial strains to 
excite them, but could march into battle " to the Dorian 
mood of flutes and soft recorders," the Northern men 
in making a charge would grit their teeth, compress 
their lips, slope their bayonets, then silently rush on 
with a power that swept every thing before it. It was 
like the Norman and Saxon blood on the battle-fields 
of Europe. " These English," said Napoleon to Soult 
on the morning at Waterloo, as he first swept the field 
with his glass, — " these English : at last we have them ! " 
— r"I know them, sire," said Soult, who had been in 
Spain, — " I know them ; and they will die where they 
stand ! " The news of the victory was telegraphed over 
the country. It was read to both houses of Congress, 
then in session. Salutes were fired ; and everywhere 
the news was received with great rejoicing. 



72 Life of General Grant. 

This battle, or rather the two battles of Sliiloh and Pitts- 
burg Landing, were fought April G and 7, 18G2. They 
were important in many ways, but not the least in the 
entire change which they made in the views of the man 
who was finally to wield the whole force of all the Union 
armies asainst the Rebellion. He had believed that the 
South, after a few defeats, would relinquish the purpose 
of actually destroying the government, and fastening 
anarchy upon the whole nation ; but that they would 
use their position to negotiate upon the questions in dis- 
pute, and idtimately return to the Union. He was now 
convinced that he had not fathomed their purpose, and 
that the words of the secession leader at Washington, as 
reported by Judge Douglas, were true : "If you give 
us a sheet of white paper to write our own terms, we 
will not remain in the Union." He became convinced 
that the leaders of the Rebellion had " resolved, in the 
gloomy recesses of minds capacious of such things," to 
overthrow the liberties of their country, and erect on 
its ruins a vast empire to extend and perpetuate hiunan 
slavery. He saw that it was a life-and-death struggle ; 
that the government must exterminate the Rebellion, or 
be exterminated by it ; that, with the capture of forts 
and the surrender of armies, the slaveholders were not 
willing to yield the accustomed fruits of victory. Men 
often mark the progress of our race by battles, sieges, 
the dismemberment of old and the creation of new em- 
pires ; but the silent, still birth of a thought, an opinion, 
in the mind of a single man, has often shaken the earth 
with the force of an earthquake. 

Grant now formed a belief that it was not by march- 
ing and countermarching of armies, by taking Fort 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 73 

Sumter or Montgomery, by holding this city or block- 
ading that harbor, by "crushing, anaconda strategy," 
such as Scott first recommended, that the Rebelhon was 
to be put down ; but that the Rebellion was in the hearts 
and minds of the slaveholders ; that its power was with 
Lee and the imnumbered bayonets that followed him : 
and thereafter his policy was to pursue the rebel armies, 
and constantly strike, strike. This opinion he ever after 
acted upon, as far as his power went, until the final sur- 
render at Appomattox Court House. He acted on the 
doctrine that political metaphysics, armies, slavery, every 
thing, should be destroyed which resisted the triumph 
of the right. And here was one great secret of his 
success where others had failed. 

Gen. Halleck, who was at St. Louis, now came down 
and took command. 

The North claimed a great victory at first ; but, very 
soon, dissatisfaction was expressed. Gen. Grant, it was 
said, " had not properly chosen his battle-field ; he should 
have had Buell's army on the ground on the first day of 
the fighting ; his habits were bad, or the army would not 
have been driven back to the Landing on Sunday ; it 
was a defeat which Buell only prevented from becoming 
a rout." Such were sorne of the wise criticisms made. 

Gen. Halleck, after investigating the facts, issued an 
order, thanking Gen. Grant and Gen. Buell, their oflficers 
and men, " for the bravery and endurance with which 
they sustained the general attacks of the enemy on the 
5th, and for the heroic manner in which, on the 7th, 
they defeated and routed the entire rebel army." 

In regard to the selection of the field, Gen. Sheriy;an 
wrote as follows : — 



74 Life of General Grant. 

" I will avail myself of this occasion to correct another verj" com- 
mon mistake in attributing to Gen. Grant the selection of that 
battle-field. It was chosen by that veteran soldier, Major-Gen. 
Charles F. Smith, who ordered my division to disembark there, 
and strike for the Charleston Railroad. It was Gen. Smith who 
selected that field of battle ; and it Avas well chosen. On any other 
we surely should have been overwhelmed, as both Lick ami Snake 
Creeks forced the enemy to confine his movements to a direct front 
attack, which raw troops are better qualified to resist than where 
the flanks are exposed to a real or chimerical danger. Even the 
divisions of the army were arranged in that camp by Gen. Smith's 
order, before Gen. Grant succeeded him to the command of all the 
forces up the Tennessee. If there were any error in putting that 
army on the west side of the Tennessee, exposed to the superior 
force of the enemy, also assembling at Corinth, the mistake was 
not Gen. Grant's ; but there was no mistake." 

Hon. E. B. Washburne, member of Congress from 
Illinois, thus noticed the attacks on Gen. Grant in an 
able speech in the House of Representatives, May 2, 

1862: — 

" But there is a more grievous suggestion touching the general's 
habits. It is a suggestion that has infused itseh' into the public mind 
everywhere. There never was a more cruel and atrocious slander 
upon a brave and a noble-minded man. There is no more tensjier- 
ate man in the army than Gen. Grant. lie never indulges in the use 
of intoxicating li(|uors at all. He is an example of courage, honor, 
fortitude, activity, temperance, and modesty ; for he is as modest 
as he is brave and incorruptible. It is almost vain to hojic that 
full justice will ever be done to men who have been thus attacked. 
Truth is slow upon the heels of falsehood. It has been well said 
that ' falsehood will travel from Maine to Georgia while truth is 
putting on its boots.' 

" Though living in the same town with myself. Gen. Grant has 
no political claims on me; for, so far as he is a politician, he 
belongs to a ditferent party." 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 75 

It has long been thouglit very difficult to describe a 
battle : the man who is with the right wing describes 
wliat happened there ; the man who is with the left, 
what happened there ; and the man with the centre de- 
scribes something different from either. 

In reading what was said of the battles of April 6 
and 7, Gen. Grant might adopt as his own the remark 
which Gen. Taylor, in the latter part of his life, was ac- 
customed to make when the battle of Buena Vista was 
spoken of: " I used to think I was at Buena Vista. I 
certainly did the day of the battle ; but I have heard so 
much about it since, that I often doubt if I ever was 
there at all." 

A member of Gen. Grant's staff, an eye-witness to 
the cruel injustice which was done in these criticisms, 
wrote some letters in his defence, and sent them to Gen. 
Grant's father for publication. One only was published. 
As soon as the general learned of this, he wrote, asking 
that no defence should be made. Conscious of having 
done his duty, and his whole duty, he preferred to bide 
his time for a just judgment upon his conduct. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SIEGE OF CORTNTH. 



a RANT was for an immediate attack : but Hal- 
leck decided otherwise ; and he determined to 
advance toward Corinth, where the rebels had concen- 
trated, and lay siege to the place. Gen. Ilallcck 
ordered up an immense army to his camp, until a 
hundred and twenty thousand bayonets could be put 
in line. It was called the " Grand Army of the Ten- 
nessee." Shovels and spades appeared by thousands. 
H3 threw up forty miles of intrenchments. Wells were 
sunk, as if the armv itself was besiejied. He draiiored 
heavy siege-guns through the mud ; he thrcAv up sodded 
earthworks, all constructed upon the highest principles 
of military art. 

Bomb-proof magazines were carefully built ; roads 
were cut in every direction. He advanced cautiously 
about two and a half miles a week for six weeks ; the 
enemy, meanwhile, making no attack. They were 
satisfied as long as they were " let alone." 

Gen. Halleck carried out fiithfully his Order No. 3. 
No " unauthorized persons " were allowed within his 
lines : the stories of fugitive slaves about the move- 
ments of Beauregard's army were disbelieved. Cor- 
inth was to be approached, besieged, and taken with 



76 



Siege of Corinth. 77 

dio-nity ; and week after week he advanced, moving 
forward his own camp, now a perfect Sevastopol. 
Grant was of opinion, meanwhile, that the enemj 
were dividing their forces, and evacuating Corinth. 
He examined their works, and became satisfied, that 
on their extreme left, opposite to or a httle west of 
Sherman's line, was their weakest spot ; and that 
there they could be carried at once by assault. The 
dio-o-ino; and intrenchino;, as if besleo;ed, had a depress- 
ing effect on the national troops. They had driven 
the enemy, flushed with victory, from the ravine at 
Pittsburg Landing, with deadly slaughter, five miles 
back to Shiloh Church. The enemy were retreating, 
with every sign of disorder, to Corinth ; and the Union 
army stopped six weeks to intrench, and protect itself 
from an attack. Grant ventured modestly to expi'ess 
some of these views in the briefest manner to Gen. 
Halleck, and suggested an attack, which he had urged 
the morning after the victory at Pittsburg Landing ; 
but Gen. Halleck did not agree in these opinions, and 
intimated to Gen. Grant that he need not offer his 
advice unless solicited. 

Gen. Grant never intruded his opinions again. 

On the last of May, Gen. Halleck was confident 
that he should be attacked. On the 3d he announced, 
" There is every indication that the enemy will attack 
our left this morning ; " and his magnificent army, one 
of the finest seen during the war, was put in line 
of battle, and waited an attack : but the enemy never 
came. Halleck had sent Col. Elliott to cut the Mobile 
and Ohio Railroad on the 27th, in Beauregard's rear. 
The whole country had watched daily, for weeks, the 



78 Life of General Grant. 

siege of Corinth, and looked for the capture of 
Beauregard and his grand army. On the night of the 
3d of May, the sentinels heard a great rumbling and 
rolling of cars in Corinth, and reported it. It contin- 
ued all night long. Toward morning, loud explosions 
■were heard. What could it all mean? Perhaps re-en- 
forccments were pouring in to the enemy. Ilalleck 
said to Sherman, "I cannot explain it;" and ordered 
him to "advance and feel the enemy, if still in his 
front." Shemian advanced and advanced ; but there 
Avas no enemy to " feel." lie entered Corinth : it was a 
deserted town. There were a few worthless tents, some 
wooden guns, and a few stragglers firing the public 
buildings ; but the enemy had left. It now appeared, 
that, for nearly a month, the enemy had been planning 
to leave the place. Orders were issued to move 
in the direction of Danville and Booneville. The 
works were formidable in appearance only, and could 
easily have been carried. Grant at once rode to the 
rebel left, the point at which he had advised an attack, 
to ascertain if he had been correct in his judgment ; 
and found that this was the weak jioint in Beauregard's 
line, and, if attacked, could have been carried, and the 
whole army probably caj)tured. 

For two or three days, Beauregard had been sending 
his sick and his most valuable stores toward ^Mobile, with 
the greatest part of his ordnance : the troops had gone 
to the south and west. The magazines and storehouses 
had been blown up, and were a mass of ruins. 

It is not necessary now to censure any one for this 
result. Gen. Halleck was a military scholar : he was 
an over-cautious man. He would have all, but ven- 



Siege of Corinth. 79 

ture nothing. The general who will never move an 
army of a hundred thousand men until every linch-pin 
of every wao-on has been examined and reported to 
liim will never move. Such a body of men will never 
all be ready. The campaign was ended as far as 
results were concerned. It had been a campaign of 
laborious idleness. 

Halleck was doubtless acting under the impulse 
of opinions formed at St. Louis when he first heard of 
the attack at Shiloh, — that Grant should have been 
intrenched; and he came down at once, and began 
intrenching. 

On the contrary, Grant had been on the ground all 
the time : he considered the battle of Shiloh and of 
Pittsburg Landing as substantially one battle, in which 
the victory was with him and his troops ; that with 
Buell's army of fresh troops, the rebel army weakened 
by two days of fighting, our troops should have followed 
them at once, and destroyed them ; that, if this had been 
done, the whole campaign in the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi could have been terminated in thirty days. Grant's 
plan was not engineering and mining and counter- 
mining, but an advance, a battle, and a victory. Sub- 
sequent events showed the correctness of this judgment. 
Beauregard had expected a vigorous pursuit, and had 
sent to Breckinridge, in command of the rear-guard, 
" This retreat must not be a rout," As soon as he 
arrived at Corinth, he telegraphed in cipher to Rich- 
mond for re-enforcements, and said, " If defeated here^ 
we lose the Mississippi Valley, and 'prohahly our cause.^' 
And so it was : in a few days. New Orleans was cap- 
tured, and Memphis fell. Grant's war policy, in ar~ 



80 Life of General Grant. 

word, was expressed in his letter to Buckner, " I pro- 
pose to move immediately on your works : " and it is 
evident there was one man who agreed with him that 
this poUcy would be the most cUsastrous to the rebel 
forces ; and that was Beauregard. The rebel army was 
now to be pursued. Grant was there, and Sherman 
was tliere ; but Buell was sent. 

On the 10th of June, he took seventy thousand men, 
and moved south, toward Booneville. It Avas a cautious 
man sending a sloio man in pursuit. Bucll had doubt- 
less, too, become inspired with the importance of caution 
as well as deliberation. He went thirty miles, to Boone- 
ville, with his splendid army ; and, finding no enemy, 
threw up lines of defence, and waited for them to 
attack. It was evident to the soldiers the enemy had 
fled ; but Buell, on whom rested the responsibility, did 
not perceive this. 

After a few days, however, he was compelled to 
march back to Corinth. The rebels were fifty miles 
distant by the nearest railroad, and seventy miles by 
waijon-road ; and the campaign was ended. The 
opinion was freely expressed by military men, that, if 
Gen. Ilalleck had remained in St. Louis, Grant would 
have captured Beauregard and his whole army. 

On the 17th of July, Ilalleck was called to Washing- 
ton as commander-in-chief, and Grant was left in com- 
mand. Soon after, four divisions of his army were 
ordered to join Buell, towards Chattanooga. 

Grant at once strengthened and improved the works 
which Beauregard had left. 



CHAPTER Vin. 

BATTLE OF lUKA. BATTLE OF CORINTH. 

ARE-ORGANIZATION of military depart- 
ments now gave to Gen. Grant the Depart- 
ment of West Tennessee, stretching from the west 
bank of the Mississippi to the west shores of the 
Tennessee. This included Memphis, which was now 
occvTpied by the Union forces. Gen. Grant now visited 
that city, and took measures to prevent the sending of 
letters, fire-ai'ms, goods, and ammunition out of the 
city. He rented unoccupied buildings owned by 
traitors, and directed the rent paid to the United States. 
He notified the families of rebels that they Avould be 
required to move from the city unless they signed a 
parole that they had, in no form whatever, aided the 
rebel government, and would not do so ; that captured 
guerillas would not be treated as prisoners of war ; and 
that the property of traitors would be sold to indemnify 
the government for all losses caused by the depreda- 
tions of outlaws. 

Notwithstanding the surrender of the city, and its 
occupation by the Union army, the rebel press was 
constantly endeavoring to stir up and keep alive the 
most bitter hatred toward the Union citizens and sol- 
diers. Gen. Grant found it necessary to stop this ; and 

6 81 



82 Life of Gkneral Grant. 

one of the most rancorous of the rebel sheets received 
the following very exphcit order : — 

Headquaeteks, District of West Tennessee, 
Office P kovost-Mai{shal,-General, 
Mlimi'iiis, Tenn., July 1, 18G2. 

Messrs. Wills, Bingh.vsi, & Co., Proprietors of the Memphis Avalanche, — 
You will suspend the further publication of your paper. The 
spirit with which it is conducted is regarded as both incendiary 
and treasonable, and its issue cannot longer be tolerated. 

This order will be strictly observed from the time of its re- 
ception. 

By command of Major.-Gen. U. S. Gkaxt. 

Wm. S. Hillyer, Provost-Marshal-General. 

Memptiis, July 1, 1862. 
" The Avalanche " can continue by the withdrawal of the 
author of the obnoxious article, under the caption of " Mischief- 
makers," and the editorial allusion to the same. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

The guerilla warfare was continued by the rebels 
with fierceness and ci-uelty ; and Gen. Grant found it 
neces.sary to issue still more severe orders, to one of 
which the following is a reply : — 

Trenton, Tenn., July 29, 1862. 
General, — The man who guided the rebels to the bridge 
that was burned was hung to-day. He had taken the oath. The 
houses of four others who aided have been burned to tlie ground. 
(Signed) G. ^I. Dodge, Brigadier-General. 

Slaves in large numbers had early sought refuge 
within the Union lines ; but the government was not 
yet prepared to enlist them as soldiers. In one instance 
in Missouri, slaves having given valuable information to 
the Union forces had been seized by their rebel owner, 



Battle op Iuka. 83 

to be sent within the rebel hnes ; upon which they were 
taken by an Iowa otiicer, and the circumstance report- 
ed to headL^uarters. The slaves soon after, understand- 
in^ the full import of Gen. Halleck's Order No. 3, 
attempted to escape : they were pursued by a detach- 
ment of Missouri militia in the pay of the United 
States; and one was actually shot by the pursuing 
party. 

Senator Wilson of Massachusetts had introduced a bill 
in Congress forbidding all officers from returning fugitive 
slaves ; and this was followed by legislation of a similar 
character. 

Gen. Grant forthwith gladly issued orders that fugitive 
slaves should be enrolled, and regulated the relation of 
these refuo-ees to the armv within his department. 

During the summer, Gen. Grant, by active and con- 
stant cavalry reconnoissances, kept himself thoroughly 
posted as to the position and movements of the rebel 
forces ; and had for some time been secretly forwarding 
troops north in aid of movements for the protection of 
Cincinnati and Kentucky before it was known to the 
enemy. Early in September, the rebel commanders in 
the South-west determined to unite in an attack on 
Grant's position. Gen. Braxton Bragg, as a piece of 
consummate strategy, while really at Chattanooga in 
Tennessee preparing to move towards the Ohio River, 
issued an order dated at Sparta, a small town in the 
south of Alabama. The warlike associations with the 
name of Sparta perhaps secured for it the honor of 
being used by Gen. Bragg for the purpose of deceiving 
the Union commander. 

But Gen. Grant, though not a resident of the ancient 



84 Life of General Grant. 

city or the modern village, was too much of a Spartan 
by nature to be in the least deceived by the order or its 
author. lie immediately telegraphed to Rosecrans at 
Tuscumbia, putting him on his guard. 

Van Dorn and Price, early in September, began 
movinjT toward the Tennessee ; Price strihino; east of 
Grant, as if for Kentucky ; while Van Dorn threatened 
Corinth. 

On the 13th of September, Gen. Grant ordered Gen- 
erals Rosecrans and Ord to advance upon luha, where 
a severe engagement took place on the afternoon of the 
19th. Gen. Grant had intended that Ord and Rose- 
crans should unite early in the morning of that day : 
but Rosecrans had been deceived and misled by a rebel 
spy wlu) had secured his confidence, and remained with 
him until an hour or two before the fight ; and he was 
also detained by the terrible condition of the roads and 
the thickly-wooded country. The troops fought well ; 
held their o-round : and in the niiiht the enemy fled 
with a loss of 1,438, our army entering luka the next 
morning. But Grant, owing to the fact that Rosecrans 
and Ord did not unite as expected, failed to destroy 
Price's whole force as he had intended. Price 'was 
prevented from advancing into Kentucky, or holding 
his force in full strength until Van Dorn could join 
him in a united attack on Corinth. 

Tiie North at this time was threatened with invasions 
in Maryland and Ohio. Pope and McClellan were 
superseding each other on the Potomac ; and Grant's 
troops were constantly being ordered east to their sup- 
port. This weak/iu'd and embarrassed him ; and to 
hold his own with diminished forces caused him the 



Battle of Corinth. 85 

greatest anxiety and perplexity, as his despatches at this 
time abundantly testify. 

Price retreated to Ripley, Miss., united with Van 
Dorn, and, on the 2d of October, appeared before 
Corinth with thirty-eight thousand men, where Rose- 
crans was now stationed with nineteen thousand men. 
Grant was at his headquarters at Jackson. On the 3d 
of October, they attacked Corinth with full force. 
Grant had ordered Rosecrans to attack ; but the enemy 
were so confident of victory, they did not wait for this, 
but attacked, and drove Rosecrans back to the defences, 
of which Grant's quick eye had seen the need on first 
examining the position of Corinth, and which he had 
constructed as soon as Halleck left for Wasliington. 
The rebel attack was renewed on the 4th with great 
confidence and valor ; but it was everywhere repulsed. 
Rosecrans had skilfully placed his guns, and induced the 
enemy to attack, where, when they opened, their men 
would go down in swaths. On they came ; then the 
guns with their grape and canister, a flash, a loud 
report, and the rebels went down in hundreds. It was 
hard iron shells and balls ploughing through soft, warm 
flesh and blood. But on they came. " The rebel sol- 
diers," said an eye-witness, " marched steadily to death, 
with their faces averted like men striving to protect 
themselves against a driving storm of hail." 

The Confederate Congress had recently substituted 
the new rebel flag, — the stars on a cross, instead of the 
" stars and bars " first used. The new flags were borne 
that day. The Parrott guns make terrible slaughter. A 
Texan, Col. Rogers, is about to charge at the head of 
his regiment. He seizes the new flag in one hand, and, 



86 Life of General Grant. 

with a revolver in the otlier, rushes forward at the head 
of his men. He has not been hit : he mounts the para- 
pet, waves the new flag, and falls headlong a corpse into 
the Union intrenchment, with five men by his side, 
riddled with bullets. 

Grant, though " absent in body, was present in mind." 
He had ordered McPherson to march from Jackson 
with re-enforcements for Rosecrans : he arrived during 
the fight, in the rear of Price and Van Dorn ; and, by 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the defeat of the enemy 
was comj)lete. 

Grant had anticipated this, even, and had sent Hurl- 
but and Ord, four thousand strong, to the Hatchie River, 
forty miles away, to strike them in flank as they re- 
treated ; which was done on the r)th with fine effect, 
capturing a battery of artillery and several hundred 
men. Grant had determined to cajiture Van Dorn and 
his whole army, and would be satisfied with nothing 
less. He had informed Rosecrans of the march of Ord 
and Hurlbut to Hatchie River, and directed him to 
pursue immediately, even as far as Bolivar. The char- 
acter of commanders is often seen in the energy with 
which the fruits of a well-earned victory are seized and 
followed up. The army that is allowed to " fight and 
run away can fight another day," but, if mercilessly 
pursued, is often demoralized, scattered, and broken up. 
Rosecrans' men had fought two days (though mostly 
behind their intrenchinents), and were fatigued, iuui- 
o-ry, and weary; but Grant had ordered them to pursue. 
One day of pursuit would give them peace and rest for 
a lonw time. Rosecrans reported, " I rode all over our 
lines, announcing the result of the fight in person ;" or- 



Battle of Corinth. 87 

dered the troops " to rest, and start the next morning in 
pursuit." Tliis was eleven o'clock on tlie 4th. " The 
next morning; " ! But will Price and Van Dorn wait at 
Hatchie's Run to be captured? will they not escape from 
Ord and Hurlbut during all the afternoon and night ? 
It was even so. The next morning, Rosecrans started 
out, but, being misinformed, took a road which led him 
eight miles away from Hatchie's Run before the mistake 
was discovered. Meanwhile, Ord and Hurlbut had 
had their fight, at a disadvantage, with Price and Van 
Dorn, who had made a wide circuit round, crossed the 
Hatchie several miles south at Crown's Bridge, burning 
the bridge after them. 

Grant was displeased and chagrined at the failure to 
obey his orders implicitly. It did not quite suit his taste 
either for a commander to ride about his army, announ- 
cing his victory in person, at any time, and especially 
when under orders to advance and follow up the re- 
treating enemy. He did not wish any one to eat or 
sleep, or glorify a victory, until all had been wrung 
from it that it could possibly be made to yield. Pursue, 
disperse the enemy, take the last prisoner, the last mus- 
ket, before you rest or sleep. This spirit animated 
Grant in all his battles on the Tennessee, the Cumber- 
land, the Potomac. It made him Lieutenant-General, 
and carried him in triumph to the final scene on the 
Appomattox. " The longer I live," said Fowell Bux- 
ton, " the more I am certain that the great difference 
between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the 
great and the insignificant, is energy^ invincible deter- 
mination, a purpose once fixed, and then death or 
victory ! That quality will do any thing that can be 



88 Life of General Grant. 

done in this world ; and no talents, no circumstances, 
no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man 
without it." 

But Rosecrans and his men had fought nobly, and 
received the gratitude of the country. The Union loss 
was about 2,359 ; of whom 315 were killed, the remain- 
der wounded and missing. " Our loss," says Pollard, 
" was probably double that of the Federal forces." 

President Lincoln telegraphed as follows : — 

Washington, D.C, Oct. 8, 1862. 
Ma.jor-Gex. Graxt, — I congratulate you, ami all concerned, 
in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up ? I 
especially regret the death of Gen. Hackehnan ; and am anxious to 
know the condition of Gen. Oglesby, who is an intimate personal 
fri^i"^- A. Lincoln. 

Gen. Rosecrans was made a major-general of volun- 
teers, and ordered to Cincinnati to supersede Gen. Buell 
as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. The 
battles of luka and Corinth had both been planned and 
fought by Grant, in his brain, before the armies met : 
the victories were the result of his orders. If they had 
been more strictly obeyed, the results would have been 
far larger. But he was quiet, and put forth no claims: he 
did not stand tiptoe, and shout, " I did it ! " He did not 
receive the credit he deserved. The victory was ours : 
who had won it was of less consequence to Grant. He 
was not a demonstrative man. He had about him no 
" fuss and feathers," — not enough to attract early no- 
tice. His words were few, his manners sim])le : he 
assumed nothing. As soon as he had won a great vic- 
tory, he set to work planning how to win another, and 



Battle of Corinth. 89 

did not get leave of absence to run up to show himself in 
the hotels at Cincinnati and Washington. Such a man 
was so great a novelty, that he had to be observed and 
studied to be appreciated. But his time was coming: not 
even his own modesty, great as it is, could conceal his 
merits. " The truth is, that Grant's extreme simplicity of 
behavior, and directness of expression, imposed on various 
officers both above and below him. They thought him 
a good, plain man, who had blundered into one or two 
successes, and who, therefore, could not be immediately- 
removed ; but they deemed it unnecessary to regard his 
judgment, or to count upon his ability. His superiors 
made their plans invariably without consulting him ; and 
his subordinates sometimes sought to carry out their own 
campaigns in opposition or indiiference to his orders, 
not doubting, that, with their superior intelligence, they 
could conceive and execute triumphs which would ex- 
cuse or even vindicate their course."* 

On the 16th of October, Gen. Grant's department 
was designated as the " Department of the Tennessee," 
and was extended to include the State of Mississippi, in 
which was Vicksburg. 

It was divided by Gen. Grant into four districts, under 
Generals Sherman, Hurlbut, Hamilton, and Davies. 

The Administration was desirous that the State of 
Tennessee should resume her loyal position. It was 
thought that Gen. Grant's victories rendered it an aus- 
picious time to address the people. The following docu- 
ment, written by Abraham Lincoln, united, perhaps for 
the first tune, the names of Gen. Grant and Andrew 
Johnson ; and, in view of recent events and the discus- 

* Badeau. 



90 Life of General Grant. 

sions on reconstiniction, will be read with interest. The 
remarks about '•'•peace again iipoti the old terms of the 
Constitution " sound strangely now after the great and 
irrevocable events we have witnessed. 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Oct. 21, 1862. 
Major-Gen. Grant, Gov. Johnson, and all having militarj', naval, and civil 
authority under the United States within the State of Tennessee, — 

Tlie bearer of this, Tliomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee, 
goes to that State, seeking to have such of the people thereof as 
desire to avoid the unsatistactory prospect before them, and to have 
peace nrjain upon the old terms under the Constitution of the United 
States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the 
Congress of the United States, particularly ; and perhaps a legis- 
lature, State officers, and a United-States senator, friendly to their 
object. I shall be glad for you, and each of you, to aid him and 
all others acting for this object as much as possible. In all avail- 
able wai/s, give the people a chance to express their wishes at these 
elections. Follow laiv, and forms of law, as far as convenient ; but, at 
all evenLs, get the expression of the largest number of the people possi- 
ble. All see how much such action will connect with and 
eflTect the proclamation of Sept. 22. Of course, the men elected 
should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to the 
Constitution as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion 
of duplicity. 

Yours very respectfully, 

A. Lincoln. 

The Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln 
was issued in January, 18G3 ; and was thus cordially 
welcomed by Gen. Grant : — 

General Oimjers, No. 25. Milliken's Bend, La. 

Corps, division, and post commanders will alTord all facilities 
for the completion of the negro regiments now organizing in this 
department. Commissaries will issue supplies, and quartermas- 
ters will furnish stores, on the same requisitions and returns as are 
reiiuired from other troops. 



Bati\lk of Cortnth. 91 

It is expected that all commanders icUl esj>ecially exert themselves 
in carrying out the policy oj the Administration, not only in organiz- 
ing colored regiments and rendering them ejficient, but also in reraov- 
ing prejudice against them. 

By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
John A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 

IT had long been predicted that tlie Valley of the 
Mississippi would be the seat of future empire in 
America. When Napoleon was negotiating the cession 
of Louisiana, he said, " The nation which controls 
the Valley of the Mississij)pi will eventually rule 
the world." Its importance in a civil war was early 
seen. " The Valley of the Mississippi," says De 
Tocqueville, " is the most magnificent dwelling-place 
pre})ared by God for man's abode." The river enriches 
an area of nearly one million and a half of square 
miles, — six times the size of the empire of France. 
Fifty-seven rivers, some of them a thousand miles in 
length, contribute to swell its waters. It is the mon- 
arch of rivers. The Indians called it " the Father of 
Waters." " The possession of the Mississip^ii River is 
the possession of America," said Gen. Sherman. ''As- 
sist in preserving the Mississipjii River," said Jefferson 
Davis to the citizens of Mississii)pi, at Jackson, " that 
great artery of the Confederacy, and thus conduce, 
more than in any other way, to the perpetuation of the 
Confederacy and the success of the cause." " There 
is not one drop of rain that falls over the whole vast 
expanse of the North-west that does not find its home 

92 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 93 

in the bosom of the Gulf," said Vallandigliam, in his 
speech declaring the inability of the government to 
conquer the Rebellion, and the determination of the 
North-west to go with the South if a separation took 
place. But other men of the North-west saw different 
means of preserving their right of way on the great 
river besides receiving it as a gift from a few slavehold- 
ing rebels. Among them was Logan, who could talk 
eloquently as well as fight bravely. He said, " If the reb- 
els undertake to control the Mississippi, the men of the 
North-west will hew their way to the Gulf, and make 
New Orleans a fishpond." Aside from Grant's appre- 
ciation, as a military commander, of the importance of 
the river, he was a Western man, born on the banks of 
the Ohio ; and he sympathized thoroughly with the 
invincible determination which burned and flowed in 
the hearts of the people of the North-west to hold their 
way unchallenged to the sea.* 

The rebels, very early in the Rebellion, seized and 
fortified the most important points, — Columbus, Fort 
Pillow, Island No. 10, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson. 
The first three had fallen before Vicksburg was includ- 
ed in Gen. Grant's department. All that the Confed- 
eracy had of engineering skill and experience was 

* In the summer of 1857, the writer, visiting St. Louis for the first time, 
happened to cross the river on the ferry-boat in the same carriage with 
Judge Douglas. The public mind was then full of the discussions in regard 
to Kansas. Judge Douglas turned to a Boston gentleman, and, pointing out 
of the window to the river, said, " As you are a stranger here, sir, I will show 
you a natural curiosity. The waters of the Missouri and Mississippi flow 
side by side here without intenningling, and with different colors, — one clear, 
one dark and muddy." — " Perhaps," was the reply, " it is to represent the 
free soil and slave soil through which they flow." — " Perhaps so," said the 
judge with a smile. " I didn't think of that." 



94 Life of General Grant. 

exhausted in renderino; Vicksburo; the Gibraltar of 
America. Nature and Art combined made it ahnost 
impregnable. It is four hundred miles above New 
Orleans, is situated on high ground, and had a popixla- 
tion of four or five thousand. 

The military results of the victories of Donelson and 
Shiloh had been to open the Mississippi from Cairo 
to Memphis, — a distance of two hundred and forty 
miles. 

Early in June, 1862, Farragut, after his brilliant 
victory at the mouth of the river, sent a part of his 
squadron up the river under Com. Lee, who found the 
city too strong to be taken with gunboats or mortar- 
boats. 

An attempt was made to move Vicksburg six miles 
from the river by cutting a canal in a bend in the 
Mississippi opposite. In former years, the course of 
this fickle and meandering stream had been chano;ed in 
a single night by running a furrow with a plough 
across a neck of land. The canal was three miles and 
a half long, six feet deep, ten feet wide. The project 
deeply interested Mr. Lincoln, and attracted great 
attention throughout Europe. Several thousand men 
were engaged in this work for a number of weeks. It 
was nearly completed, when the river rose suddenly, 
burst the dam at the head of the canal, and, instead of 
confining itself to the prepared chaimel, overflowed in 
all directions. Camps were submerged, horses drowned : 
the canal was a failure. Vicksburg was not to be 
displaced from the river-baid< in that manner. For 
seventy days, from about the middle of May till the 
last of July, 1862, Vicksburg had been besieged ; and 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 95 

twenty-five thousand shot and shell were thrown into 
the city by the fleet, without impairing its defences. 

It was attempted to cut a way from the river to Lake 
Providence, seventy miles north of Vicksburg, and 
formerly a part of the old channel ; thence into the 
Tensas, Washita, and Red Rivers, into the Mississippi, 
above Port Hudson. It was a long and winding way ; 
could only be used by steamers of light draught ; had 
no depth of water when the river was low ; and was 
finally abandoned. 

Twelve miles north of Vicksburg, on the east side, 
is the mouth of the Yazoo River. Up this river the 
rebels had extemporized a navy-yard, and built there 
gunboats, and a powerful steam-ram and a water-battery. 
The mouth of the river was strongly fortified, especially 
at Maine's Bluff. One hundred and fifty miles north 
of Vicksburg, on the east side, is Moon Lake : from 
this lake the Yazoo Pass extends to the Coldwater 
River, thence to the Tallahatchie River, thence to the 
Yazoo River, — all parallel to the Mississippi. The Ya- 
zoo Pass was a tortuous bayou, thirty feet deep, six 
miles long. In former years, this route had been used 
by small trading-vessels ; but, as the whole country 
between the two rivers was often overflowed, the 
State of Mississippi had constructed a dam at the 
entrance to the pass. A mine was exploded ; the dam 
was thrown open ; and, in two days, a river a mile in 
length was pouring into Moon Lake, allowing the 
largest steamers to pass. But the rebels were not idle 
below. The banks of the rivers were lined with 
gigantic trees, — sycamores, cottonwood, oak, elm, and 
pecan-wood. These trees were felled in large num- 



96 Life of General Grant. 

bers across the stream, mainly by enforced slave- 
labor. One barricade was a mile and a quarter 
in length. Some of these primeval giants, which 
were old when the Mississi})pi was first seen by 
white men, weighed twenty tons. These had to be 
hauled out by cables ; men working in parties of five 
hundred in the water. After an almost incredible 
amount of labor, the pass was opened from Moon Lake 
to the Coldwater River. But, while the Union army 
had been opening the northern end of the new route, 
the rebels had been as diligently closing the lower end. 

Gen. Ross with forty-five hundred men, on twenty- 
two transports, preceded by two iron-clads under 
Lieut.-Commander Watson, entered the Coldwater, 
twenty-five miles from the Mississippi, on the 2d of 
March. The river is about forty miles long, one hun- 
dred feet wide, and runs througli a wilderness till it 
enters the Tallahatchie, a river of similar character, 
and both too deep to be easily obstructed. This long 
passage of two hundred and forty miles was made 
cautiously , the boats moving slowly by daylight, and 
being tied to the shore at night. It was an exploring 
expedition through an unknown region, filled with 
active and unrelenting enemies ; but it was safely com- 
pleted on the 10th of March. 

Its success inspired the hope that the whole army 
might be transported through this circuitous route, nine 
hundred miles in length, and landed near Maine's 
Bluff", a few miles above Vicksburg. But the diflSculty 
was to obtain at once, in sufficient numbers, steamers of 
lisht draught only. At first, only one division, under 
Gen. Quimby, could be sent ; then the corps of Mc- 



YiCKSBURG Campaign. 97 

Pherson, and a division of Hurl but, were ordered to 
follow as fast as transportation could be obtained. 

Near where the Tallahatchie flows mto the Yazoo, 
a third river, the Yallal)usha, enters it at the town of 
Greenwood. Opposite Greenwood, the rebels had 
erected Fort Pemberton. The land was so low as to 
be almost surrounded bj water, too deep for a land- 
attack by infantry, and not deep enough for boats to 
get within short range. The expedition depended 
wholly upon the insufficient naval force for success. 
The boats could not get within less than twenty-seven 
hundred feet of the battery. The attack was made, 
but was unsuccessful. One boat was disabled, six men 
killed, and twenty-five wounded. The rebel loss was 
one man killed. 

It was now attempted to drown out the garrison, only 
twenty-four inches above the water, by cutting a levee 
three hundred miles distant, at Austin, near Helena, 
and turning the floods of the Mississippi in that direc- 
tion ; but the lordly and capricious Father of Waters, 
as if determined that the dwellers on its banks should 
themselves settle forever their right of way to the sea, 
could neither be coaxed nor forced from its usual chan- 
nel, and left Fort Pemberton unharmed. The course 
of the river was one of " non-intervention." 

But Ross was in peril, and must be relieved. The 
Union gunboats held the mouth of the Yazoo. On 
this river, before reaching Haine's Bluff, Steele's Bayou 
opens, runs north, circles around Fort Pemberton, and 
re-enters the Yazoo sixty miles above a trackless and 
labyrinthine maze ; adopting on its devious course of one 
hundred and fifty miles, as if to elude detection, the 

7 



98 Life of General Grant. 

aliases of Black Bayou, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, 
and Big Sunflower. Grant accompanied Admiral 
Porter on a reconnoissance on the 15th of March. 
On the IGth, he sent forward Sherman and a division 
of troops. He ardently hoped, not only to relieve 
Ross, but to find some base from which to prosecute his 
campaign on dry land. 

Sherman's troops were sent up the Mississippi, on 
transports, to Eagle Bend ; marched about a mile over 
to the transports in the bayou, building bridges across 
the swamp. The gunboats became entangled in the 
drift-timber, and could with difficulty force their Avay 
along, sometimes moving only four miles in twenty-four 
hours. Trees had to be pulled up by the roots, stumps 
sawed off under water. The bayous were crooked, cov- 
ered with a thicket of trees overhead, and filled with 
saplings in the channels. With incredible difficulty, 
they advanced slowly ; but it was found, at last, that the 
troops must be disembarked from the transports, and 
put on coal-barges and tugs, the way for steamers be- 
coming impassable. The progress of the infantry was 
now much slower than that of the naval vessels ; and 
Admiral Porter arrived at Rolling Fork, March 30, 
much in advance of the troops. The rebels here were 
fellincT trees across the stream in great numbers, and 
compelling slaves to aid them at the point of the bayo- 
net: they were doing the same farther down in the 
rear of the boats. The labor of removing these obstruc- 
tions was pursued day and night, under fire of a cloud 
of sharpshooters, and was toilsome beyond description. 
The heavy guns of the little fleet were not available in 
such a warfare to any great extent. It became appar- 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 99 

ent that the fleet was in danger ; and Admiral Porter 
sent word by a slave, who succeeded in making his 
way thirty miles back to Sherman, to come to his sup- 
port. The promptitude of Blucher's movements gave 
him amono; the Prussian soldiers the name of " Mar- 
shal Forwards." A like spirit was in Sherman. It 
was night when this message came ; but at once the 
army was started, and moved up along the naiTow, 
slimy, treacherous path, on the river's bank, through 
almost impenetrable canebrakes, guided by lighted 
torches ; the indomitable general leading the way. 
It was the first " torchlight procession " ever seen in 
that desolate region. He found Porter's boats about 
three feet below the river bank, unable to reach the 
rebel force, and their sharpshooters, of whom thei'e were 
about four thousand, and a battery of artillery, in the 
swamps. But Sherman's men soon changed the appear- 
ance of all this, drove off the enemy, and saved the 
fleet. 

But it was found necessary to abandon the route. 
The character of the country, the blockading of the 
creek by the rebels, now thoroughly aroused to the 
importance of the movement, compelled a return of 
the expedition. The gunboats unshipped their rudders, 
and backed down the narrow streams, where there was 
not room to swing around ; and, thumping over the trees, 
finally returned in safety to their starting-point. Grant 
had ordered a concentration of forces at Milliken's 
Bend ; and by the last of March the army were back 
there, baffled in their main object, it is true, but har- 
dened by exposure, better acquainted with the difficul- 
ties to be encountered, and commander and men in- 
flexible in their determination to take Vicksburg. 



100 Life of General Grant. 

All the elaborate and laborious schemes to take the 
city, some five in number, had failed ; the rebels were 
jubilant, but still continued to strengthen the place by 
every means known and unknown to military science ; 
the administration was discouraged; the Western State 
authorities were im})atient. Grant iiad been compelled 
at times to stop all letters between the army and friends 
at home, lest the mails should be captiu'ed, and reveal 
to the enemy the location and movements of his forces. 
At these times, the anxiety of friends at home colored 
their feai's. It was said the soldiers were dying by thou- 
sands in those pestilential swamps : fevers, dysenteries, 
and exposure Avere destroying what rebel rifles left in 
those impenetrable morasses, fit only for snakes and rep- 
tiles, and inaccessible to any ministrations to the sick and 
wounded. Grant was, after all, a failure. He had been 
*' lucky," it was said, at Donelson and Corinth ; but he 
had " taken to drinking," and should be removed. He 
still said quietly, " I shall take Yicksburg;" but this was 
regarded as mulish and unreasoning obstinacy, and only 
showed more clearly the necessity for removing him. 
The newspapers were filled with the spirit of these criti- 
cisms ; and they produced, of course, a powerful influ- 
ence at Washington ; and various officers were urged for 
appointment as his successor. 

And now was seen the sense of justice, and the mar- 
vellous power to judge of men, surpassing intuition, 
possessed by Abraham Lincoln. A strong friend of 
Gen. Grant, a member of Congress, Avho had been 
moved by these representations, but who now despaired 
of his success, called on the President to acknowledge, 
from a sense of duty, that the condition of affairs 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 101 

required anotlier commander at Vicksburg. He re- 
ceived this answer : " I rather hke the man. 1 think 
we will try him a little longer." This was not the 
least of the services which the beloved President ren- 
dered to the country. Meanwhile, Grant, though 
appreciating all the circumstances, preserved his usual 
silence : he transmitted regularly his official reports to 
the War Department; but he did not write, nor cause to 
be written, long arguments to show that Vicksburg ought 
to have fallen, and would have fallen, "if" the govern- 
ment had sustained him, had sent him more re-enforce- 
ments, or "if" this or that had been otherwise. He 
accepted the facts without any " ifs." In his own mind, 
he had never had great confidence in the success of 
any of these plans, though they might succeed. But 
the army could not remain idle ; and the summer 
droughts were needed to carry out the other plans 
he had long contemplated. 

The natural situation of Vicksburg, and the topog- 
raphy of the country around it, were its defences, as 
Avell as the skill, science, and courage of its defenders. 
It seemed to be, as Davis had pronounced it, " the Gib- 
raltar of America." The European press re-echoed the 
censures of American journals. The administration 
telegraphed that "■ the President was getting impa- 
tient." 

But, April 4, Grant telegraphed to Halleck, " The 
discipHne and health of this army is now good, and I 
am satisfied the greatest confidence of success prevails." 
And success came. 



CHAPTER X. 

EUNNING THE BATTERIES. 

THE failure of the many attempts on Vicksburg had 
one good effect : it showed to the mind of the 
connnander how it could 7iot be taken, and so reduced 
the remaining alternatives from which a selection could 
be made. 

Grant's army was at Milliken's Bend, on the west side 
of the Mississippi, above Vicksburg. His ])lan was to 
march the army down to New Carthage, cut a canal 
through the bayous, j)ut the troops on barges and emi)ty 
coal-boats, which should be drawn by tugs to some |)oint 
south of the citadel. But this would leave the army on 
the west bank of the river, with no means of crossing. 
But this was to be remedied by the boats above running 
past the batteries in the night, and then ferrying the 
army over. Good roads would give him control of the 
country in the rear ; and he would besiege Vicksburg by 
land, while the gunboats should prevent relief by the 
river. 

It is undoubtedly an immense satisfaction to a com- 
manding ofttcer to know that his plans will be carried 
out, not merely according to the letter of the law, but 
without a constant looking for predicted failure ; that 
they commend themselves to the judgment, if not to the 

102 



Ru^■NI^■G THE Batteries. 103 

admiration, of his subordinates. Before the battle of 
Aboukir, Nelson called his captains into his cabin, and 
explained to them his plan of battle by doubling on a 
portion of the enemy's fleet ; and, as his officers began 
to understand it, Capt. Bariy, in his enthusiasm, jumped 
to his feet, and exclaimed, " If we succeed, what will the 
world say of us ? " Nelson, with equal enthusiasm, 
sprang up, and exclaimed, " But there is no if in the 
case: we shall succeed." No one there uttered the 
opinion afterwards expressed by Cooper, — that with 
American vessels it would fail ; and the ardor and confi- 
dence of the officers was felt the next day by every man 
and powder-boy throughout the English fleet. 

When Gen. Grant made known his plan to a council 
of his corps commanders, not one approved it. The 
plan was opposed to military rule. It severed his army 
from the North and its supplies. If not an immediate 
success, it niust end in overwhelming disaster. All his 
officers — Sherman, McPherson, Logan, Wilson, all able 
men, all attached to their commander, and anxious he 
should not fail — argued the points against the project. 
Sherman, after reflecting, could not restrain himself from 
renewing the debate. Gi'ant knew his friendship, his 
sincerity, and his ability. Sherman even rode up to 
Grant's headquarters the next day, and presented his 
views, respectfully of course, but earnestly, as an earnest 
man does every thing. 

He assured Grant that the only way to take Vicks- 
burg was to move on it from some high ground as a 
base, on the north. " This," said Grant, " will require 
us to go back to Memphis." 

"Exactly so," said Sherman, and set forth his reasons 



104 Life op General Grant. 

with the intensity of conviction and the ingenuity and 
abihty of an able soldier. 

Grant replied, " I shall take no step backward : it 
would seem to the country, now discouraged, like a re- 
treat. I have considered tlie plan, and have determined 
to carry it out." 

Sherman left ; but the strength of his convictions, the 
vast importance of the movement to the nation and the 
armv, would not allow him to leave the subject thus ; 
and he carefully committed his views to paper, and on 
the 8th of April forwarded them to headquarters, con- 
cludinor with these noble words, so honorable to him as 
a patriot and a soldier : " I make these suggestions with 
the request that Gen. Grant simply read them, and give 
them, as I know he will, a share of his thoughts. I would 
prefer he should not answer them, but merely give them 
as much or as little weight as they deserve. Whatever 
plan of action he may adopt will receive from me the 
same zealous co-operation and energetic support as 
though conceived by myself." 

And here is one of the points of moral grandeur in 
the career of Grant. Tiiose who would understand his 
character should observe liim at this juncture. This 
sinfde man — newspapers, politicians, army officials at 
Washington, clamoring for his removal, he acknowledg- 
ing his failure thus far, his present plan opposed ear- 
nestly by all his officers — sees the path of duty before him 
gleaming with liglit in the surrounding darkness, and 
walks in it with unfaltering step. How many men 
were there in the country who would have gone on ? 

It had been said early in the war that the North had 
no cavalry, and nothing to make cavalry out of; that 



Running the Batteries. 105 

the Southern men were born riders ; and in this arm of 
the service, which Napoleon pronounced the most impor- 
tant in war,* tlie Soutli would always be infinitely supe- 
rior to their opponents. 

Gen. Scott*, whose opinions at the opening of the 
war, whether with or without reason, were supreme, 
declared we needed no cavalry ; and, in consequence, 
thousands of cavalry were refused when offering to 
enlist. The few regiments accepted were attached to 
different corps, and, when used, were generally sent out 
in small numbers. 

It was the fashion to ridicule the efficiency of the 
cavalry. The sarcasm of a distinguished major-general 
in asking, after a battle, " if any one ever saw a dead 
cavalry-man," was often repeated. Under Grant, the 
cavalry became a power, as it deserved to be ; and 
expeditions, ten and fifteen thousand strong, were sent 
out, and used effectively until the close of the war. 

While studying his campaign, Grant wrote to Hurl- 
but, " It seems to me that Grierson, with about five 
hundred picked men, might succeed in cutting his way 
south, and cut the railroad east of Jackson, Miss. The 
undertaking would be a hazardous one ; but it would 
pay well if carried out." 

This railroad was the principal artery for supplies to 
Vicksburg. Col. B. H. Grierson of the Sixth Illinois 
was at La Grange, Tenn., with seventeen hundred 

* " My decided opinion," said Napoleon, " is that cavalry, if led by equally 
brave and resolute men, must always break mfantry." — Las Casas, vii. 184. 

" It was by cavalry that Hannibal conquered at Ticino; a charge of 
French horsemen at Marengo placed Napoleon on the consular throne ; an- 
other of the English light dragoons on the flank of the Old Guard hurled 
him to the rock of St. Helena." — Alison. 



106 Life of General Grant. 

men, including the Sixth and Seventh Bhnois and 
Second Iowa, with CoL Prince and CoL Hatch. Grier- 
son started April 17 ; passed through Ripley, behind 
all the Confederate forces, through Pontatoc, Clear 
Spring, Louisville, Newton, burning bridges, cutting 
telegraph-wires, tearing up railroads, destroying prop- 
erty of the rebel government wherever found, passing 
through forests and swamps, and swimming rivers. At 
Newton, they turned south - west, towards Raleigh ; 
thence to Gallatin, where they captured a 32-pound 
rifled Parrott and fourteen hundred pounds of powder ; 
then to Union Church behind Natchez, where they had 
a skirmish ; then to Brookhaven, where they burned 
the station-house, cars, and bridges of the New-Orleans 
and Jackson Railroad ; thence to Greenburg, La., hav- 
ing a fight at Amite River. 

May 2, the people of Baton Rouge were astounded 
at the arrival of a courier, who announced that a 
brigade of cavalry from Gen. Grant's army had cut 
their way through the wiiole of the State of Mississippi, 
and would arrive in an hour. They were met at the 
picket-line, and escorted into Gen. Banks's camp amid 
the vociferous cheers of their astonished friends. 

In sixteen days they had ridden six hundred miles 
throujfh the heart of one of the richest regions of the 
Confederacy, traversing the whole length of Missis- 
sippi ; killed and wounded one hundred of the enemy ; 
captured and paroled five hundred prisoners ; destroyed 
three thousand stand of arms, and six million dollars' 
worth of Confederate suj)plies, and projK'rty of various 
kinds, with a loss of three men killed and twenty-five 
horses. Thousands of rebel cavahy were sent out from 



Running the Batteries. 107 

Jackson and from Vicksburg ; but the chivalrj never 
could find them. 

Grierson's expedition was one of the most brilhant 
cavalry exploits of the war, and will be long remem- 
bered. 

The raid withdrew attention somewhat from Grant, 
and was of essential service to his army m its new 
movement. 

On the 29th of March, Gen. McClernand, with the 
Thirteenth Army Corps, was ordered to move down to 
New Carthage. The winter overflow had hardly sub- 
sided, and the roads were wet and spongy. 

On arrival, it was found that the levee of the Bayou 
Vidal, which here empties into the Mississippi, had 
broken, leaving New Carthage an island. It was found 
necessary, therefore, to march the army to Perkins's 
Plantation, twelve miles below, and thirty-five miles 
from Milliken's Bend. Four brido;es, two of them six 
hundred feet long, were required during this march. 
Ammunition and provisions were carted along this route 
with incredible labor. 

It was now determined to send three steamers and 
ten barges, loaded with rations and forage, past the bat- 
teries. Grant applied to Admiral Porter, who entered 
cordially into the undertaking. Grant wrote, " I am 
happy to say the admiral and myself have never yet 
disagreed upon any pohcy." 

The passage would be a terrible one, — to many it 
might be like embarking on the river of death. Some 
of the captains and crews of the river-steamboats were 
unwilling to make the attempt ; and the trip was so 
hazardous, that the officers preferred to call for volun- 



108 Life of General Grant. 

teers rather than order men to the duty. But volunteers 
enough pressed forward to man twenty fleets. None 
would give way ; and the places were at last assigned 
by lot. One boy, residing near Grant's home in Illinois, 
who had drawn a chance to go, was offered a hundred 
dollars for his place ; but the post of danger was the 
post of honor. The boy indignantly refused the money ; 
took his position, like young Casabianca at the battle of 
the Nile, and passed bravely through. 

As soon as the wants of the service were known, the 
army seemed to swarm with boatmen, pilots, and engi- 
neers, as the Massachusetts regiments under Butler, 
in- their first march to Washington, furnished at a 
moment's call men who could make steam-engines and 
build railroads.* 

One officer wrote, that if orders were given, '' Paint- 
ers, present arms I " or " Poets, to the front I " or 
" Sculptors, charge bayonets I " dozens in every com- 
pany would res])ond. Hundreds of young men in our 
colleges, nurtured in wealth and luxury, flung aside 
their books, cheerfully endured the privations and hard- 
ships of canip-Iife, and in battle bore themselves with 
inspiring u;allantrv, like vouno; Lowell, who was shot on 
his fourteenth charger. f 

It was the rare accomplishment in a private soldier, 



* " Does anj' one here know any thing about this machine?" said Gen. 
Butler at Annapolis, when sun-eying a rusty and dilapidated locomotive. 
A soldier of the Massachusetts Kifrlith answered, " Our shop made that 
engine, general. I guess I can put her in order and run her;" and it was 
done. 

t " As to the way in which some of our ensigns and lieutenants braved 
danger, — the boys just come from school, — it exceeds all belief. They 
ran as at cricket." — IWUiiit^tvn on WulerloQ. 



Running the 13atterie3. 109 

of being able to write, which first made Marshal Junot 
known to Napoleon. But the Union army was com- 
posed of men who could fight when fighting was to be 
done ; and it furnished sailors, scholars, engineers, me- 
chanics, for every exigency which war could require. 

It was ten o'clock at night, on the 16th, when the 
fleet started down the river. There was no moon. 
The intrepid Porter led the way in " The Benton," 
followed by "The Lafayette," " Carondelet," "Pitts- 
burg," " Tuscumbia," " Price," " Louisville," and 
" Mound City." 

Between eleven and twelve, there was a flash on the 
high bluff above them ; and in an instant the batteries 
along the whole water-front were thundering at the 
fleet, and kept up a terrific cannonade. The boats im- 
mediately replied with grape and shrapnel, which took 
effect on the city rather than on the batteries. Houses 
were soon blazing. The shells from the batteries lighted 
the hay on one or two of the large transports, the flames 
mounting up the sky. The transports were cut loose 
from the gunboats, and, floating down the river like great, 
palaces of fire, were reflected on the dark waters beneath 
them. The flames, tossing and swaying in the midnight 
wind, looked like meteor-flags streaming out from battle- 
ment and tower. The whole heavens were lighted up 
so clearly, that the men at the guns and in the streets of 
Vicksburg were seen as plainly as at noonday. The 
population were out, watching a display of fireworks 
grand beyond description. For about three -hours, 
nearly two hundred heavy guns were hurling their 
deadly missiles at the brave fleet, which passed tri- 
umphantly on. 



110 Life of General Grant. 

Grant watched the operations with intense interest 
from a transport moored in tlie middle of" the river, 
where the shot and shell fell thick about him. 

Within two hours after the batteries had been passed, 
the whole scene was changed : the guns were silent ; the 
dark river was flowing as peacefully, the stars were shin- 
ing as brightly, as when the Indian first paddled his 
canoe along its waters. 

As may be imagined, the fate of the expedition had 
been anxiously Watched by McPherson's men below. 
The first herald was a transport burning to the water's 
edge, followed by the wreck of one of the barges. An 
old man, a wealthy rebel, on whose plantation McPher- 
son had established his headquarters, could not conceal 
his delight from the Union officers, and confidently })re- 
dicted tlie destruction of the whole Union fleet. The 
officers watched anxiously ; and, soon after daybreak, one 
gunboat after another came steaming around a bend in 
the river, the old flag dancing in the early sunlight ; and 
the cheers went u[) loud and long. It was in a double 
sense the dawning of a new day for that brave army. 
But it was too nmch for the old rebel ; and that day, in 
his impotent wrath, he set fire to his s])lendid residence. 

He had enriched himself on the unrequited toil of his 
slaves. The estate was one of the most princely in 
Louisiana. It seemed to realize Wirt's description of 
Blannerhassett's home : " He had reared upon it a 
palace, and decorated it with every embellishment of 
fancy.- Shrubbery that Shenstone might liave envied 
bloomed around him. Music that might have charmed 
Calypso and her nymphs was his." The elegant man- 
sion, embowered in overarching trees, was situated on 



Kunming the Batteries. Ill 

an eminence, and commanded a view of varied and sur- 
passing loveliness. The majestic river in its windings 
seemed lingering to reflect and beautify the scene. 
Though spring, all around bespoke the luxury of early 
summer. The warm, genial air, vocal with song of 
birds, was laden with perfumes of the oleander and 
the blossoms of the magnolia. The broad savannas 
were waving with corn and cotton. Figs grew in the 
open air. Nature seemed here to have spread a banquet 
of festal glory. But, in a few hours, all was changed. 
The house was a mass of blackened ruins. The grounds, 
which had smiled with a beauty whicii would " re-create 
the lost Eden anew," were transformed into a crowded 
and noisy camp. 

Foolish old man ! and yet in this act, which would 
have been denounced as vandalism in the Union army, 
he but imitated the leaders of the Rebellion, who sought 
to make themselves the architects of a far grander ruin, 
— the ruins of the temple of American liberty. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI. BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. 

THE troops were now to be crossed over the river. 
It was decided to land them at the mt)st southern 
point of the rebel batteries, — at Grand Gulf, seventy- 
five miles below Milliken's Bend. Reconnoissances had 
shown this to be the only practicable spot for landing. 
Transportation-boats were insufficient ; and the army 
marched through mud and mire to' a place appropriately 
called " Hard Times," opposite Grand Gulf. 

The gunboats were to silence the batteries ; and then 
the troops, ten thousand in number, were to be crossed 
in such boats as there were, and carry the works at the 
point of the bayonet. 

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 29th, the iron- 
clads, seven in number, opened fire, and continued the 
bombardment for nearly six hours. The intrenchments 
were high up on the blutfs above them : the stream was 
too deep to anchor, and too rapid to lie still ; thus com- 
pelling the boats to sail about as they fired. 

The fleet did every thing that a fleet could do ; but 
all in vain. The batteries were too high up to be dam- 
aged. Grant said, "• Many times, it seemed to me the 
gunboats were within pistol-shot of the enemy's bat- 

112 



Crossing the Mississippi. 113 

teries." But, at half-past one, not a single gun had been 
silenced. It was a most unfortunate repulse. 

Grant knew it would be simply a massacre of his men 
to lead them against such works ; but he knew, also, no 
such word as " fail." His definition of the word " dif- 
ficulty " was a thing to be overcome. He signalled to 
the admiral, and was immediately put on board the flag- 
ship, where he requested that the fleet would run the 
batteries the same night as a cover to the transports, 
while the troops marched farther down the river. 

It was expected they would be obliged to march south 
as far as Rodney before they could efl^ect a crossing ; but 
a " contraband," during the night, told them of an ex- 
cellent road at Bruinsburg, only half-way to Rodney, 
which led directly to Port Gibson, in the interior. 

At this time, Grant desired an attack to be made on 
Haine's Bluff, above, to divert the attention of the en- 
emy from his real movement, to the rear of Vicksburg ; 
but it was only to be a feigned attack, and then the 
army were to withdraw. He hesitated to order Sher- 
man to make an attack and fall back at this time. It 
would be misunderstood at the North. It would be 
published as another defeat, and stimulate still more the 
efforts for his removal. Sherman, as well as Grant, had 
been subjected to the harshest censures for the failures 
to take Vicksburg. But Grant wrote to him, still re- 
maining at Milliken's Bend, " The effect of a heavy 
demonstration in that direction would be o-ood so far as 
the enemy are concerned ; but I am loath to order it, 
because it would be so hard to make our own troops un- 
derstand that only a demonstration was intended, and 
our people at home would characterize it as a repulse." 



114 Life of General Grant. 

But Sherman replied, " I believe a diversion at 
Haine's Bluff' is proper and right, and will make it, 
let whatever reports of repulses be made." 

This incident brings out in admirable light the rare 
friendship of these remarkable men. 

Sherman at once moved ten regiments up the Yazoo, 
who were landed and disposed as if to make a formi- 
dable attack. The gunboats, which had been left at 
the bend, commenced a furious bombardment. These 
movements created great excitement in Vicksburg. 
*' There was mounting in hot haste ; " troops were hur- 
ried from one point to another. For two days and 
nights, Sherman kept up active preparations for an attack 
of the most threatening character, when he received the 
following from Grant : " Move up to Perkins's Plan- 
tation with two divisions of your corps as rapidly as 
possible." 

He at once retired, and hurried down the river, not 
havini; lost a sinjile man. The news went over the 
country of "another repulse at Haine's Bluff;" the 
rebels shouted over another victory won. Vicksburg is 
imj)regnable ! 

Grant had only passed Grand Gulf; had not begun 
his march to Jackson ; and, while all seemed dark to 
others, he was full of confidence, and wrote to Halleck, 
" I feel now that the battle is half over.'''' Four days 
after, he wrote, '' In two weeks, I exj)ect to be able to 
collect all mv forces, and turn the enemy's left." 

As the gunboats were now all at Grand Gulf, Gen. 
Grant was a])))rehensive that the rebels might send an 
armed steamer down the Big Black River, turn north, 
and attack him at Perkins's, where he had accumulated 



4 



CitossiNG THE Mississippi. 115 

stores and ammunition. To meet any such emergency, 
he constructed a gunboat by placing some pieces of 
Hght artillery on board one of the transports, and had 
four 30-pound Parrott guns dragged by oxen to a com- 
manding position on the river, ready for immediate 
service. 

Port Gibson is in the rear of the works at Gi'and 
Gulf, about twelve miles from Bruinsburg, on the route 
to Jackson and also to Vicksburg. Tiie capture of 
Port Gibson would carry also the fall of Grand Gulf. 

Grant hui-ried his army across the I'iver with the 
ntmost speed, that he might advance before the enemy 
should be aware of his plans. To the quartermaster 
he wrote in regard to loading rations, " Do this with 
all expedition, in forty-eight hours : time is of immense 
importance.'" 

He thus cuts away the " red tape " of the chief 
commissary's department : " You will issue to the 
troops of this command, without provision-returns * for 
their subsistence the next Jive days, three rations." 

Every tug, boat, and barge was crowded to its 
utmost in taking the men over the river, which is here 
a mile in width. And Admiral Porter, who also knew 
the value of time, offered the naval vessels for the un- 
usual work of ferry-boats, and loaded them with men 
and guns, in cordial sympathy with Gen. Grant's ener- 
getic movements. The navy could not follow the army 
on dry land ; but it could go with them to the water's 
edge, and bid them " God speed." 

Not a single tent, nor any personal baggage, was 

* " Pi-ovision-retunis " are technical vouchers required of eacli officer 
drawing rations, involving formality and delay. 



116 Life of General Gkant. 

allowed to go over, not even the horses of the general 
and staff", until the troops were landed. Hon. Mr. 
Washburne, the early and eloquent friend of Gen. 
Grant, who was with the army at this time, thus 
writes : — 

" In starting on the movement, the general disencumbered him- 
self of every thing, setting an example to his officers and men. 
He took neither a horse nor a servant, overcoat nor blanket, nor 
tent nor camp-chest, nor even a clean shirt. HL^ only baggage 
consisted of a tooth-brush. He always showed his teeth to the 
rebels. He shared all the hardships of the private soldier ; sleep- 
ing in the ivoixt and in the open air, and eating hard-tsick and 
salt pork, lie wore no sword, had on a low-crowned citizen's hat; 
and the only thing about him to mark him as a military man was 
his two stars on his undress military coat." 

It was about an hour before sunset that the Thir- 
teenth Corps led the way from the bluffs in this the 
last and successful expedition for the caj)ture of Vicks- 
burg. The scene was inspiring. Behind them was 
the broad river ; around and before them was the ver- 
dure of midsunnner. The air was loaded with per- 
fumes, the corn was waving, the magnolia was in full 
blossom. Tlie peaceful beauty of the landscape was in 
strange contrast with the glittering bayonets, the rulling 
drums, and the warhke ai)pearance of the military 
array. The army advanced quietly until about two 
o'clock, when they encountered a rebel force of about 
eleven thousand men, in a strong position, under Gen. 
Bowen. After a light fire from the infantry, both 
armies waited the coming of tlaylight before opening 
battle. The nature of the ground was peculiar : tlie 
roads were on ridges, with ravines on each side choked 



Battle of Port Gibson. 117 

up with magnolia trees and vines, and gave the rebels 
opportunity to contest with great advantage the 
advance of the Union army. On the right, McCler- 
nand advanced with Generals Carr, Hovey, and A. J. 
Smith ; and the left was under the command of Oster- 
haus. 

The right advanced steadily, pressing back the 
enemy ; but an almost impassable ravine resisted the 
left wing. About noon, Grant ordered two brigades of 
Logan's division, and Smith's brigade, to attack and 
outflank the enemy on the left. Grant and McPherson 
both accompanied the advance. Soon after, a general 
charge was ordered ; and the enemy gave wav in all 
directions. Before sunset, the enemy were retreating 
toward Port Gibson, leaving their dead and wounded on 
the field. 

They were pursued to within two miles of Port 
Gibson, when darkness and the danger of ambuscades 
rendered it necessary to rest till daylight. But, lest 
the enemy should attempt a retreat, Grant's orders to 
McClernand were, " Push the enemy, with skirmishers 
M-ell thrown out, until it gets too dark to see him. 
Park your artillery so as to command the surrounding 
country, and renew the attack at early dawn. ... No 
camp-fires should be allowed, unless in deep ravines 
and in rear of the troops." 

Grant took six hundred and fifty prisoners, four flags, 
six field-guns ; and nearly eight hundred of the enemy 
were killed or wounded. Among the former was Gen. 
Tracy. Our loss was one hundred and thirty killed, 
and about seven hundred wounded. The landing 
at Bruinsburg, and the rapid advance of the Fed- 



118 Life of General Grant. 

eral troops, had surprised and disconcerted the enemy i 
and Gen. Peniberton, in connnand of" the departnienl-. 
telegraphed at once to Gen. J. E. Johnston, " A furi- 
ous battle has been going on since daylight, just l)e]()w 
Port Gibson. Enemy can cross all his army from 
Hard Times to Bruinsburg. I should have laro;e re- 
enforcements. Enemy's movements threaten Jackson, 
and, if successful, cut off Vicksburg and Port Hud- 
son." 

To this, Johnston gave the best possible advice (no 
one could have given better) : " Unite your troops, and 
beat Grant : " its only infirmity was the difficulty of 
carrying it out. 

In the morning, it was found that the enemy had 
evacuated Port Gibson, and burned the bridge, one 
hundred and twenty feet long, across Bayou Pierre, to 
prevent pursuit. It Avas rebuilt with great energy. 
Houses were torn down to furnish timber, and the men 
worked up to their waists in water. Meanwhile, a part 
of Logan's command succeeded in fording the stream, 
and pushed on with impatience after the retreating foe. 

Crocker's division of McPherson's corps had been 
ferried over the river, had filled their haversacks with 
three days' rations, which were' to last five days, and 
also hurried forward. Three miles beyond Port Gib- 
son, the troops came upon some fifty thousand weight 
of hams in fine order, win'ch the rebels had left by the 
road in their flight. The pursuit was kept up, with 
occasional skiimishing, to the Big Black River, fifteen 
miles beyond Port Gibson, and within eighteen miles of 
the city of Vicksburg. Pemberton might well ask for 
" large re-enforcements." 



Battle of Port Gibson. 119 

As Grant had foreseen, the capture of Port Gibson 
carried with it the fall of Grand Gnlf ; and the next 
morning he rode over to this place with a small 
cavalry escort to learn that the enemy had abandoned 
the whole country, from the Bayou Pierre to the Bio- 
Black River north. He at once took possession, and 
gave orders to make Grand Gulf his base of supplies, 
instead of Bruinsburg. 

The magazines had been blown up, and the guns 
buried or spiked. They had not been removed by the 
enemy, for the following excellent reason, given in 
Gen. Pemberton's report: "/S'o rapid ivere his" 
[Grant's] " movements, that it was impracticable to 
withdraiv the heavy guns." 

Grant had not had his clothes off for three days and 
nights : his only baggage was a tooth-brush, his only 
indulgence a cigar. He now w^ent on board one of the 
gunboats, borrowed a change of linen, and wrote until 
near morning. 

To Gen. Halleck he announced the victory in the 

following modest terms : — 

Grand Gulf, Miss., May 3, 1863. 
Major-Gen. Halleck, General-in-Chief, — 

We landed at Bruinsburg, April 30 ; moved immediately on 
Port Gibson ; met the enemy, eleven thousand strong, four miles 
south of Port Gibson, at two o'clock, a.m., on the. 1st instant, 
and engaged him all day, entirely routing him, with the loss of 
many killed, and about five hundred prisoners, besides the 
wounded. Our loss is about one hundred killed, and five hundred 
wounded. 

The enemy retreated towards Vicksburg, destrovang the 
bridges over the two forks of the Bayou Pierre. Tlaese were 
rebuilt ; and the pursuit has continued until the present time. 
Besides the heavy artillery at the place, four field-pieces were 



120 Life of General Grant. 

captured, and some stores ; and the enemy were driven to destroy 
many more. The country is the most broken and difficult to 
operate in I ever saw. Our victory has been most complete, and 
the enemy is thoroughly demoralized. 

But Gov. Yates of Illinois, who was with the army, 
had no disposition for such moderation ; and he tele- 
graphed as follows : — 

GuAXD Gulf, Miss., May 4, 1863. 

Our arms are gloriously triumphant. We have succeeded in 
winning a victory, which, in its residts, must be the most important of 
the war. The battle of May 1 lasted from eight o'clock in the 
morning until night, during all which time the enemy was driven 
back on the right, lett, and centre. All day yesterday, our army 
was in pursuit of the rebels ; they giving us battle at almost every 
defensible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night, 
a large force of the enemy was driven across Black River ; and 
Gen. !McClernand was driving another large force in the direction 
of Willow Springs. About two o'clock yesterday, I left Gen. 
Logan with his division, in pursuit of the enemy, to join Gen. 
Grant at Grand Guh", which the enemy had evacuated in the 
morning ; first blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon, 
destroying tents, &c. On my way to Grand Gulf, I saw guns 
scattered all along the road, which the enemy had left in their retreat. 
The rebels were scattered through the woods in everv* direction. 
Tliis army of the rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible ; 
but it quailed be/ore the irresistible assaults of North-icestern valor. 

I consider A'icksburg as ours in a short time, and the ISlis- 
sissippi River is destineil to be open frbm its source to its mouth. 

I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear 
witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave 
Illinoisians. 



CHAPTER XII. 



GRAND GULF CAPTURED. 



/^ RANT had now obtained a footliold on the high 
vJT ground he had been fighting for during five 
montlis. He had captured Grand Gulf, one of the strong 
outworks of Vicksburg. He had won a splendid victory. 
It was the beginning of the end. The foregoing de- 
spatches show the style in which the achievements were 
narrated by Grant and by an impartial observer. 

Grant had now to decide on his plan of operations. 
He had thirty-five thousand men in his command, of 
whom he wrote, " My army is composed of hardy and 
disciplined men, who know no defeat, and are not willing 
to learn what it is." 

He was in the State of Mississippi, the home of Jef- 
ferson Davis, in a region wholly given over to secession. 
Shall he advance at once on Vicksburof, and beo-in the 
siege where Pemberton, by his report, has 59,411 men ? 
or shall he go north and east, and meet the force gathering 
under Gen. Gregg with numbers unknown ? If he sits 
down to besiege Vicksburg, Gregg will be upon his rear ; 
if he attacks Gregg, Pemberton will be upon his rear. 
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had entire command of 
the rebel armies in that region, was moving toward 
Jackson, the capital of the State, and only fifty miles 

121 



122 Life of General Grant. 

distant, with railroad communication in various direc- 
tions. The question must be decided at once. 

Grant determined to move east, to Jackson ; attack 
and beat Gregg and the army there, belbre Femberton 
should know of his plan, or could march to interfere 
with him ; then return, and beat Pemberton ; or, if he 
retired into Vicksburg, besiege and capture it. But to 
do this before the rebel armies can unite and overwhelm 
him requires energy and speed not often exhibited. Tlie 
army must be hurled with its whole force, first in one 
direction, then in another, as with the will of a single 
man. 

He cannot leave part of his force to watch and fight 
Pemberton while he goes east to fight Gregg. This 
would require two armies, and he has but one. 

But, if he strikes out with thirty-five thousand men 
into the heart of the Confederacy, how is he to feed 
them ? His supplies, brought from Milliken's Bend, are 
. =.^ to be sent from Grand Gulf, But Pemberton can 
easily send a force to intervene between his army and 
its base. 

Grant determined to take what supplies he could, 
leave his base to care for itself, feed his army from the 
country through which he moved, fight his battles as 
fast as possible, then turn west, and return to Vicks- 
burg. But he knew well that the cautious mind of Gen. 
Halleck, sitting in his office at Washington, would never 
sympathize with his views ; and he thought his only 
method was to do it, and ask permission afterward. So 
he proclaimed no plans in advance, but reported regu- 
larly results as they occurred. We shall see that he 
judged correctly. They were studying the maps in 



Grand Gulf Captured. 123 

Washington at this time, and telling him where lie 
ought to go. But there was no telegrajjh beyond Cairo, 
and it was a long way for letters to be sent from Cairo 
to the interior of Mississippi ; and he would act so 
rapidly, that, when they arrived, they would be found 
to relate to past events. It is well to contemplate him 
here. Gen. Badeau says, — 

" So Grant was alone. His most trusted associates besought 
him to change his plans ; while his superiors were astounded by his 
temerity, and strove to interfere. Soldiers of reputation, and civilians 
in high place, condemned in advance a campaign that seemed 
to them as hopeless as it was unprecedented. If he failed, the 
country would concur with the government and the generals. Grant 
knew all this, and appreciated his danger, but was as invulnerable 
to the apprehensions of ambition as to the entreaties of friendship, 
or the anxieties even of patriotism. That quiet confidence which 
never forsook him, and which amounted, indeed, almost to a feeling 
of fate, was uninterrupted. Having once determined in a matter 
that required irreversible decision, he never reversed, nor even 
misgave, but was steadily loyal to himseh" and his plans. This 
absolute and implicit faith was, however, as far as possible from 
conceit or enthusiasm. It was simply a consciousness, or convic- 
tion rather, which brought the very strength it believed in ; which 
was itself strength ; and which inspired others with a trust in him, 
because he was able thus to trust himself." 

At midnight of the 3d he had taken fareAvell of Grand 
Gulf in his own mind, and was on his way to Hankin- 
son's Ferry, on the Big Black River. But his orders 
show his state of mind. Sherman's corps was hurried 
across the river. Supplies were wagoned sixty miles 
from Milliken's Bend, ferried over the river, and carted 
eighteen miles farther. 

To Sherman he wrote, " Order forward immediately 



124 Life of General Grant. 

your remaining division, leaving only two regiments (to 
guard Richmond), as required in previous orders. Have 
all the men leave the west bank of the river with three 
days' rations in haversacks, and make all possible 
despatch to Grand Gulf." 

To Hurlbut he orders, " Four regiments to Milliken's 
Bend with the utmost despatch." " Take them from 
the troops most convenient to transportation." 

To the commissary at Grand Gulf, " You will load 
all teams pi'esenting themselves for rations with prompt- 
ness and despatch, regardless of requisitions or provision- 
returns. There must be no delay on account of either 
lack of energy or formality." 

To one of his staff superintending affairs at Grand 
Gulf he says, " See that the commissary at Grand Gulf 
loads all the wagons presenting themselves for stores 
with great promptness. Issue any order in my name 
that may be necessary to secure the greatest promptness 
in this respect. . . . Every day's delay is worth two 
thousand men to the enemy." 

To the same officer, two or three days after, " Send 
me a report of about the number of rations on hand, 
and send forward to Grand Gulf. Send also to 
McFeely and Bhigham, and remind them of the im- 
]>ortance of rushing forward rations with all despatch. 
. . . How many teams have been loaded with rations 
and sent forward? I want to know, as near as possible, 
how we stand, in every particular, for supplies. How 
many wagons have you ferried over the river? How 
many are still to bring over ? What teams have gone 
back for rations ? " 

To Hurlbut, who was to remain at Memphis, he 



Grand Gulf Captured. 125 

wrote, " You will have a large force of cavalry : use it 
as much as possible iu attractiuo; attention from this 
direction. Impress upon the cavalry the necessity of 
keeping out of people's houses, or of taking what is of no 
use to them in a military point of view. . . . They must 
live as far as possible off the country through which they 
pass, and destroy corn, wheat-crops, and every thing 
that can be made use of by the enemy in prolonging 
the war. Mules and horses are to be taken to supply 
all our own wants ; and, when it does not cause too 
much delay, agricultural implements may be destroyed : 
in other words, cripple in every way, without insulting 
women and children, or taking their clothes, jewelry, 
&c." 

These, and many other despatclies that could be 
quoted, show, better than could any comments, the 
varied and multitudinous cares which pressed upon the 
mind of Gen. Grant at this time. They show, that, while 
major-general, he could be quartermaster, commissaiy, 
ordnance-officer, and even ferryman. Nothing essen- 
tial to the one grand object, success, was too great or 
too small for him to grasp with all his energy. He 
pressed his orders with all the more force and exact- 
ness because he knew tha.t the campaign was in defiance 
of rules : it was his own. 

Near the battle-field of Leuthen, the traveller is still 
shown the tree under which Frederick the Great assem- 
bled his generals, and said, " The moment for courage 
has come. I am resolved, against all rules of the art 
of ivar, to attack the army of Charles of Lorraine 
wherever I may find it. There is no question of the 
number of the enemy or the strength of his position. 



126 Life op General Grant. 

We must beat them, or find our graves before their bat- 
teries.'" 

It was not until his arrival at Hankinson's Ferry 
that the personal baggage and horses of Gen. Grant 
and staff arrived. Previous to this he had slept in the 
porch of the nearest house, and eaten at the table of 
the officer near whom he happened to be. lie ordered 
reconnoi^ances to be made by the cavalry on the roads 
leading up to Vicksburg, to kee]) alive in the enemy the 
belief that he intended to march in that direction. 

On the 8th, Grant had his headquarters at Rocky 
Springs. Sherman, who was still solicitous about the 
result of the campaign, did not see the possibilitv of the 
army abandoning its base ; and wrote fi'om ILuikinson's 
in regard to the crowd of men, wagons, and trains, ur- 
ging him to " stop all troops till your army is partially 
supplied with wagons, and then act as quick as possible ; 
for this road will be jammed, as sure as life, if you 
attempt to supply fifty thousand men by one single 
road." 

To this Grant replied, " I do not calculate upon the 
possibility of supplying the army with full rations from 
Grand Gulf. I know it will be imj)ossible without con- 
structing additional roads. What I do ex))ect, iiowever, 
is to get up what rations of hard-bread, coffee, and salt, 
we can, and make the country furnish the balance. . . . 
You are in a country where the troojis have already 
lived off the people for some days, and may find pro- 
visions more scarce ; but, as we get upon new soil, 
they are more abundant, particularly in corn and 
cattle." 

Grant was here acting on the policy which he deter- 



Grand Gulp Captured. 127 

mined to be the only one practicable to end the Rebel- 
lion ; and that was, to make the Rebellion furnish the 
supplies for the Union army. He had never, in the 
earliest days of the war, sent back a tremblincr fugitive 
with his compliments to his master. He had never 
detailed soldiers along the line of his march to guard 
the flowers and fruit of rebel officers. The rebels them- 
selves had taught him that the Government must brina: 
the war home to the slaveholders of the South, and 
compel them to feel the consequences of their acts in 
consuming power. It was his belief, that, the quicker 
this was done, the quicker the war would end. 

On the 11th of May, Grant sent word to Halleck, 
" My forces will be this evening as far advanced to- 
wards Jackson as Fourteen-mile Creek. As / shall 
communicate with Grand G-ulf no more, except it be- 
comes necessary to send a train with heavy escort, you 
may not hear from me again for several days.^^ 

The same day, and almost the same hour, Halleck, 
from his desk at Washington, was ordering Grant on a 
far different expedition, as follows. He said, "If pos- 
sible, the forces of yourself and Banks should be united 
between Vicksbui^g and Port Hudson, so as to attack 
these places separately with the combined forces." Sin- 
gular position in which a commanding general finds it 
necessary to use strategy both with the enemy and his 
superior at Washington ! 

At this time, the Hon. J. J. Pettus, Governor of 
Mississippi, determined to test the effects of a proclama- 
tion addressed to the whole State, in retarding the 
advance of the Union armies. The principal portions 
are as follow : — 



128 Life of General Grant. 

Executive Office, Jackson, 5Iiss., May 5, 1863. 
To THE People of Mississippi, — 

Recent events, familiar to you all, impel me, as your chief magis- 
trate, to appeal to your patriotism for united effort in expelliny our 
enemies from the soil of Mississippi. It can and must be done. Let 
no man capable of bearing arms withliold from his State his ser- 
vices in repelling the invasion. Duty, interest, our common safety, 
demand every sacrifice necessary for the protection of our homes, 
our honor, liberty itself. • . . Awake, then, arouse, IMississippians, 
young and old, from your fertile plains, your beautiful towns and 
cities, your once quiet and happy, but now desecrated, homes ! 
Come and join your brothers in arms, your sons and lu-ighburs, who 
are now baring their bosoms to the storm of battle at }0ur very 
doors, and in defence of all you hold dear. . . . 

Fathers, brothers, 3Iississippians, while your sons and kindred 
are bracelij fiyhtinci your battles on other fields, and shedding new lus- 
tre on your name, the burning disgrace of successful invasion of their 
homes, of insult and injury to their wives, mothers, and sisters, of rap- 
ine and ruin, with God^s help, and by your assistance, shall never 
be written while a Mississippian lives to feel in his proud heart the 
scorching degradation ! . . . Let no man forego the proud distinction 
of being one of his country's defenders, or hereafter wear the dis- 
graceful badge of the dastardly traitor who refused to defend his 
home and his country.'- 

John J. Pettus, Governor of Mississippi. 

Notwithstanding the proclamation of Gov, Pettus, 
the army advanced toward Jackson. It moved in two 
columns ; Generals Sherman and McClernand on the 
rioht, and Gen. McPherson on the left. 

About half-past three o'clock on the morning of the 
12th, Gen. Logan's division encountered the rebel ve- 
dettes near Raymond, under Gen. Gregg. Regiments 
were deployed, the cavalry called in, and preparations 
made for battle. A few hours later, the enemy were 
encountered, about six thousand strong, within two miles 



Grand Gulf Captured. 129 

of Raymond, strongly posted. Their artillery swept a 
bridge which it was necessary McPherson should cross: 
the infantry were posted on a range of hills to the 
right and left, and among ravines in front. 

The battle was to be fought here. Orders were sent 
back to clear the road of all trains, and move up the 
troops to the front. Before they could arrive, the 
enemy were beaten. 

As usual, they came on with a " yell," and with 
great fury rushed at De Golyer's (Eighth Michigan) 
battery, but were driven back with grape and canister. 
The Twentieth, Sixty-eighth, and Seventy-eighth Ohio, 
and Thirteenth Illinois, were closely engaged with the 
enemy. Later, the rebels still holding their position, 
a charge was ordered by Gen. McPherson ; and the 
Eighth Illinois, led by Col. Sturgis, went in with fixed 
bayonets in fine style, broke their line, and drove them 
in disorder. During the battle, the Eighth Illinois 
and Seventh Texas Regiments, which had opposed each 
other at Fort Donelson, met again, and fought with 
unflinching ardor. The Eighth Missouri, an Irish 
regiment, fought with determined bravery. At Win- 
chester, two Irish regiments which had been pressed 
into the rebel service, refused, when brought on to the 
field, to fire on the American flag ; and at Freder- 
icksburg the Irish troops piled up their dead within 
forty feet of the muzzles of the rebel cannon. For 
centuries, at Fontenoy, at Albuera, at Waterloo, the 
valor of Irishmen has shed lustre on the flag of Eng- 
land in war, which has returned them only persecution 
in peace. 

Xogan, with the advance, pressed the retiring enemy, 

9 



130 Life of General Grant. 

and at five o'clock entered Raymond in triumph. 
Generals McPherson and Logan were constantly under 
fire, animating the troops ; the latter having his horse 
shot under him. 

The enemy retreated toward Jackson. The rebel 
loss was one hundred and three killed, and seven hun- 
dred and twenty wounded and taken prisoners. Our 
loss was sixty-nine killed, and about three hundred and 
sixty wounded and missing. 

At Raymond, the Union officers found newspapers 
published in Jackson the day previous, from which they 
learned, to their surprise, that the " Yankees had been 
whipped at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were 
falling back to seek the protection of their gunboats." 
It was by such falsehoods that the rebel press sought to 
deceive the people of the South. 

Pemberton had been entirely deceived by Grant and 
by himself. 

He had an invincible reluctance to change his 
base, and could not imagine that Gx'ant had launched 
his columns into the country, to find their base in 
their haversacks and in the sujiplies around them. By 
advancing to Raymond, Gi'ant exposed, of course, his 
line of communication with Grand Gulf; and Pem- 
berton thought it the highest generalship to move south 
to Raymond, and seize this line, which he believed 
indispensable to Grant's army. Pemberton said, " My 
own views were expressed as unflworable to any move- 
ment which Avould remove me from my base, which 
was and is Vicksburg." 

But Pemberton, it is seen, was about to assail a line 
of communication which did not exist. Grant had 



1 



Grand Gulf Captured. 131 

said, " I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more." 
He would open a line of communication again with the 
North ; but it would not be until he had placed the old 
flag on the capitol of Mississippi, and driven Pemberton 
and his army fifty miles back, withki the intrenchments 
at Vicksburg. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BATTLE AT JACKSON. 



P EMBERTON now advanced his army to Edward's 
Station. On the 12th, he had telegraphed to 
Johnston, " The enemy is apparently moving his heavy 
force towards Edward's Depot. That ivill he the hattle- 
plaae.^^ 

Without knowledge of this telegram, of course. Grant, 
the same day (the 12th), wrote to McClernand, " Ed- 
ward's Station is evidently the point on tlie railroad the 
enemy have most prepared for receiving us. I there- 
fore want to keep up appearances of moving upon that 
place." The dav Pemberton was thus theorizing. Grant 
fought and won the battle of Raymond against Gregg, 
far on the road to Jackson ; and that night he ordered 
McPherson to " march at daylight for Clinton and Jack- 
son." And to Sherman he wrote, " You will march at 
four, A.M., in the morning, and follow McPherson."' 
At the same hour, he sent to McClernand, "• Start with 
your three divisions as soon as possible, and on to liay- 
mond.''^ 

McPherson, as ordered, had advanced on Clinton, 
where he arrived about two o'clock, and innnediately 
bullied the bridges, tore up the railroad-track, and 
destroyed the telegraph. 



132 



Battle at Jackson. 133 

Sherman and his column arrived about the same 
time. That night, the loth, Gen. Johnston, a sokUer 
of genius and vigor, had arrived at Jackson to command 
the forces which were constantly forwarded there with 
all the energy of the leadei-s of the Rebellion. Before 
he slept, he sent orders to Pemberton to attack the 
Federal troops at Clinton, saying, " To beat such a 
detachment would be of immense value. Time is all- 
important." Even Johnston did not understand that it 
was no " detachment " they would meet. 

The same night, Grant ordered the army to move at 
early dawn upon Jackson. On the morning of the 
14th, he sent word to Gen, Halleck of the battle at 
Raymond, ami said, in closing his despatch, " I will 
attack the State capital to-day." Pemberton and his 
troops were busily strengthening Edward's Station, 
deceived by McClernand's pickets, and expecting an 
attack there ; but Grant and Pemberton were planning 
campaigns for different armies. 

It had rained hard during the night, increasing all 
the difficulties of the movement ; but the soldiers felt 
that they were marching from one victory at Raymond 
to another at Jackson, and pushed on in fine spirits. It 
was nine o'clock on the morning of the 14th when the 
rebel pickets were met and driven in about five miles 
out from Jackson. The army advanced, and found the 
enemy in force nearly two miles and a half beyond. 

Johnston was in command, with the flower of the 
Soutiiern soldiery. Regiments were there from South 
Carolina and Georgia. Their batteries were posted on 
a semicircular ridge in the rear, and the infantry in 
front, in ravines traversed by a fence. 



134 Life op General Grant. 

While the regiments were moving into position, the 
rain was so violent, that every cartridge-box opened was 
filled with water. It was eleven o'clock before the 
artillery commenced the battle. Our skirmishers were 
met by so heavy a fire, that they were called in ; and 
Gen. Crocker was ordered to charo-e. At once, the 
whole line swept forward with muskets loaded, bayonets 
fixed. The loud cheers ring out. On they go, through 
the ravine, and up the hill, to the muzzles of the rebel 
guns. The enemy broke, and fled back to their de- 
fences, a mile and a half in the rear. Here an effective 
fire of artillery was opened ; and officers were sent out 
to reconnoitre the works. 

Sherman, who had advanced in another direction 
from McPherson, also found intrenchments to the left 
as far as could be seen, from which a sharp artillery-fire 
was maintained. Grant ordered an examination to the 
extreme right, the flanks of these intrenchments. Those 
sent not returning as soon as he desired, he started 
himself, followed only by his staff, and rode until he 
found that the enemy had evacuated the town. The 
route was open, and he rode on. His son, a boy of 
thirteen, who was with him as they neared the town, 
started his horse on a gallop, and was the first to enter 
the streets. 

But ]McPherson also learned that the rebels had 
evacuated the works, and marched inside of them on 
one flank, while Sherman marched in on the other, 
meeting midway amid prolonged shouts of victory. 

By three o'clock, the national ensign, raised by the 
Fifty-ninth Indiana, was waving from the dome of the 
capitol. 




7\M"f '^' I 



Battle at Jackson. 135 

The leading secessionists of the place had left with 
the rebel army, including the State Treasurer with the 
funds, and Gov. Pettus with all the most valuable State 
papers except the copies of his proclamation. But his- 
tory will preserve this. 

Before four o'clock. Grant was issuing orders to his 
corps commanders in the governor's room at the capitol. 
Sherman was ordered to occupy the rifle-pits, and 
destroy the railroads, bridges, and telegraphs in all 
directions, except towards Vicksburg. Factories and 
arsenals were burned. A public house called the 
" Confederate Hotel " was fired by some of the sol- 
diers before the guard could take possession of the city. 
On investigation, it appeared that some of the Union 
troops had been transported through Jackson, some 
months before, as prisoners on cattle-cars, which were 
stopped in front of this hotel. The captives, who had 
suffered long from thirst, asked for a little water, but 
were refused with brutal and insulting taunts by those 
in the hotel. They had been exchanged, and returned 
to the army in time to assist in the capture of Jackson, 
and exhibited in the first moments of victory a vivid 
recollection of the inhumanity of their former treat- 
ment. The officers reo-retted the unauthorized destruc- 
tion of private property ; but the soldiers probably 
thouo;ht that one burnino; wrong was in this case not 
unfitly avenged by another. 

That night. Grant occupied the elegant mansion of a 
wealthy rebel, which had been Johnston's headquarters. 
The indications were, that the rebel generals the night 
before had celebi'ated with a banquet the victory they 
expected to achieve over Grant ; but their victory was 
in anticipation only. 



136 Life of General Grant. 

It was 

" A banquet-hall deserted : 
Its lights were fled, 
Its garlands dead, 
And all but (Grant) departed." 

Johnston retreated several miles, and at once wrote 
to Pemberton, asking, " Can Grant supply himself from 
the Mississippi? Can you not cut him ofi" from it? 
And above all, should he be compelled to fall back ibr 
Avant of sup})lies, beat him." The idea that Grant had 
left his base still distressed both these distinguished 
generals, and gave them unnecessary solicitutle. 

Grant at once issued orders for McPherson to start 
at dayhght, and return ; marching to Bolton, twenty 
miles on the road to Vicksburg. Orders were also 
despatched to McClernand and Gen. Frank Blair to 
concentrate at the same point. The object now was 
to return and defeat Pemberton before Johnston and his 
army could join him. A courier was sent back to 
Grand Gulf with despatches for Gen. Halleck, announ- 
cing the victory at Jackson. 

By half-past nine o'clock, the advance of Osterliaus's 
Federal cavahy was driving in the rebel pickets, and 
picking up prisoners in the town of Bolton. The troops 
were pressing on as fast as possible over the muddy 
roads, now badly cut up by the artillery and baggage- 
wagons. But the soldiers saw that quick movements 
and rapid marches enabled them to outnumber the en- 
emy at the point of attack ; and they hurried forward 
with increased confidence in the genius of their leader. 

" I am happy to see you," said the Emperor Alex- 
ander to Gen. Savary the night after the battle of 



Battle at Jackson. 137 

Austerlitz. " This day has been one of glory to the 
Emperor Napoleon. I confess, the rapidity of his ma- 
noeuvres never gave me time to succor the menaced points. 
Everywhere you were double the number of our forces." 
— " Sire," said Savary, '" our force was twenty-five thou- 
sand less than yours, and the whole of that was not en- 
gaged ; but the same division combated at different 
points. Therein lies the art of war. The emperor has 
seen forty pitched battles, and is never wanting in that 
particular." ' 

The rank and file thoroughly understood Gen. Grant's 
desire to spare human life, and enable them to fight 
their battles with their legs rather than with the deadly 
missiles of war. 

While Grant was attacking Jackson, Pemberton was 
in council with his generals, deciding whether he should 
adopt Gen. Johnston's suggestion to move east, and at- 
tack the Federal troops at Clinton. He decided that it 
was not so imjiortant as to " cut Grant's line of commu- 
nication with Grand Gulf," a desire which never forsook 
him ; and he accordingly moved south towards Dillon 
to sever Grant from his base. At forty minutes 
past five, P.M., May 14, he ^vl'ote to Johnston, " I shall 
move, as early to-morrow as practicable, a column of 
seventeen thousand on Dillon's. The object is to cut 
the enemy's communication." Such had been the mas- 
terly strategy of Gen. Grant in this campaign, that the 
extraordinary sight was now witnessed of three rebel 
armies marching south, north, and east away from him, 
while he was converging between them, fi-om three dif- 
ferent quarters, his united army, flushed with victory. 
This is the art of war. 



138 Life of General Grant. 

But Pemberton now learned more of Grant's move- 
ments, and perceived, that in niovino; from Edward's 
Station, on the direct road from Vicksburg to Jackson, 
lie had simply moved out of Grant's path, and left the 
way open to Vicksburg. His object now was to return 
as soon as possible ; but this must be done with 
care, or he would find himself passing in fi'ont of Grant's 
columns. Grant was marching from east to west for 
Edward's Station ; and Pemberton was returning from 
the south to the north, toward the same line. 

About five o'clock on the morning of the 15th, Grant 
learned from a couple of men employed on the Jackson 
and Vicksburg Railroad, who had j)assed through Pem- 
berton's army, that the enemy were near Edward's 
Station with about twenty-five thousand men. 

In thirtv minutes, a courier was on the road to Jack- 
son with the following order to Sherman : " Start one of 
your divisions on the road at once with their ammmii- 
tion-wao;ons. 

" I have evidence that the entire force of the enemy 
was at Edward's Depot at seven, p.m., last night, and 
was still advancing. The fight may therefore be 
brought on at any moment." 

In one hour alter this order was received, Sherman's 
troops were in motion. 

Pemberton, who had been educated at West Point, 
had selected his battle-fitdd with the eye of a trained 
soldier. Champicm's Hill, half-way between Vicksburg 
and Jackson, rises sixty or seventy feet above the sur- 
rounding country : its summit, free from woods, afforded 
an admu-able position lor artillery ; but the sides over 



Battle at Jackson. 139 

which our troops must move were covered with tliick 
underbrush, and seamed with ravines. Here Pemberton 
had placed liis army of twenty-five thousand men. 
Lorino- had the ria;ht, Bowen the centre, and Stevens 
the left, of the rebel line. Pemberton was ignorant tliat 
Grant's entire army was in the vicinity around him. 
Hovey's troops were nearest to Pemberton ; but Grant 
preferred that the action should not be opened until the 
divisions in the rear could be moved up. By eleven 
o'clock, the battle had commenced. McClernand, with 
four divisions, was advancing from Raymond, and had 
been ordered to hurry forward, but had not arrived. 
Hovey's division moved against the hill toward the 
west, supported by two brigades of Logan, which wei'e 
within four hundred yards of the enemy. 

The fire raffed alono; the whole line of battle. Can- 
non, shot, shell, and rifle-balls swept the field in every 
direction. But Hovey's division pressed through the 
storm of death, and slowly mounted the hill ; the living 
closing their ranks as the dead dro})ped beside them. 
They drove the enemy back six hundred yards, and cap- 
tured eleven guns and three hundred prisoners. The 
stars and stripes, and the State flags of Ohio, Indiana, 
Iowa, and Wisconsin, were flying on the crest of the 
hill. But here it was found that the road over the hill 
was so cut as to afflird a natural breastwork, which the 
rebels at once used to their irreat advantaiie. Pember- 
ton re-enforced the position ; and Hovey's men, in spite 
of all their heroic efforts, were pressed slowly back, 
fighting every inch of the ground, but losing the 
captured guns. Where is McClernand with his four 
divisions of fifteen thousand men ? 



140 Life of Gkneral Grant. 

Officer after officer had been despatched to hurry 
liim up. Grant, who had watched the battle with his 
son by his side, repeatedly looked toward Raymond, 
and listened for McClernand's guns as Napoleon lis- 
tened for the cannon of Davoust beyond the Tower of 
Neuisedel at Wagram. But Hovey was giving way 
against overwhelming odds ; and Grant ordered a bri- 
gade of Crocker's division to his support, and they held 
their ground. 

Meanwhile, Logan had pressed the left of the rebel 
line with such terrible effect, that he was working into 
their rear ; which they soon discovered. At this time, 
a battery on the Union right opened upon them with 
fearful slaughter ; McPherson moved on the rebel right 
front ; Hovey and Crocker's divisions once more ad- 
vanced with Logan's men ; the enemy gave way ; five 
of the guns were recaptured; the battle was won. 

The enemy retreated over the Big Black River, and 
were followed till night. This was the severest battle 
of the campaign. Our loss, in killed, wounded, and 
missing, was 2,457. The rebel loss was between three 
and four thousand in killed and wounded, and nearly 
three thousand taken prisoners ; fifteen or twenty guns, 
eleven of them captured by Logan's command. Among 
the rebel dead was Gen. Tighlman, who was captured 
the year previous at Fort Henry. The pursuit by 
Grant alter the battle was so cpiick. that Gen. Lorings 
division was sejwrated from Remberton's main army, 
and was never able to join the garrison of Vicksburg. 

The nature of the ground had reijuireil the Union 
trooj)s to ascend the hill in column, and offer their 
solid masses to be ploughed by the enemy's artilleiy, 



i 



Battle at Jackson. 141 . 

which was worked with deadly skill. The soldiers 
called it the " Hill of Death : " but it was also the hill 
of victory ; for, in reality, it decided the fate of Vicks- 
burg. 

" They never fail who die 

In a great cause : the block may soak their gore ; 

Their heads may sodden in the sun ; their limbs 

Be strung to city gates and castle walls : 

But still their spirits walk abroad." 

That no incident might be wanting to render the day 
remarkable, Grant now received orders from Gen. Hal- 
leck, dated the 11th, to move down the river instead 
of marching into the interior. " If possible," he said, 
" the forces of yourself and Banks should be united 
between Vicksburg; and Port Hudson. The same 
thing has been urged on Banks." It was well that 
Grant had broken up his line of communication with 
his superior, as well as with Grand Gulf, before these 
orders arrived. He was now marching back to the 
Mississippi ; but it was to enter Vicksburg as a con- 
queror. 

Grant and his staff rode on with the pursuing column, 
until, late in the night, he found himself too far in ad- 
vance, and rode back to bivouac with his soldiers. He 
slept on the piazza of a house which was used as a 
hospital for the rebel wounded. The battle was fought 
on Saturday : the evening brought the close of the 
week and the approach of the sabbath. It was a 
beautiful night. Though yet spring, the air in that 
Southern clime was touched by the fervors of midsum- 
mer ; and, not unnaturally, the hearts of all were soft- 
ened by thoughts of home and loved ones far away. 



142 Life op (trneral Grant. 

The Twenty-fourth Iowa was called the " Methodist 
Regiment," as a large portion of its officers and men 
were of that denomination ; and all at once, as if by 
common impulse, the men began singing " Old Hun- 
dred : " others joined ; and, as the strains of the grand 
old hymn went up on the voices of thousands, it seemed 
both a requiem for comrades slain, and a song of 
thanksgiving for the victory won. 



1 

i 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER. 

ON the morning of the 17th, McClemand's forces 
found the enemy strongly posted on both sides of 
the Bier Black River, at the railroad-brido;e. In front 
of the eastern bank was a wide bayou, nearly twenty 
feet across : this was a natural wet ditch, behind which 
were rifle-pits. The west bank was a high bluff, with 
twenty pieces of artillery in position to command the 
east bank and the approaching Federal forces. Trees 
had been felled to form an abatis. Engineerino; science 
could have hardly constructed a more formidable posi- 
tion than Nature here offered for defence. Here Pem- 
berton took his stand with four thousand men. He said, 
" So strong was the position, that my greatest, almost 
my only, apprehension was a flank movement by Bridge- 
port or Baldwin's Ferry, which would have endangered 
my communications with Vicksburg." But he had 
against him the men who had been at Donelson, at 
Corinth, and at Champion's Hill. 

The artillery-firing and skirmishing continued for 
two or three hours ; when Gen. Lawler — who was 
rushing around m his shirt-sleeves, determined to cross 
somewhere — discovered a spot on the left of the 
rebel defences, where, by moving a portion of his 

143 



144 Life of General Grant. 

brigade through a piece of woods, he thought an assault 
might be made. The supporting troops, seeing a part 
of Lawler's men start, animated by their repeated 
victories, dashed after them without waiting for orders, 
and rushed over the bayou in the midst of a mur- 
derous fire, which swept down a hundred and fifty of 
their number. On reaching the end of the rebel para- 
pet, a place was seen wide enough for four men to walk 
abreast : through this the assaulting party rushed with 
fixed bayonets and loud cheers. The astonished rebels, 
accustomed to defeat, as Pemberton said, " did not wait to 
receive them, but broke, and fled precipitately." A ])anic 
ensued. The rebels fired the western end of the bridge, 
regardless of their troops on the other side. jNIany 
jumped into the river to escape ; some attempted to 
cross amid the flames; some ran wildlv up and down the 
banks of the river ; others surrendered. An entire 
brigade was taken prisoners. The rebel army, now 
little better than a mob, besan its hurried fliirht to Vicks- 
burg, where their unexpected arrival and utterly demor- 
alized condition filled the city with terror and dismay. 

Our loss was twenty-nine killed and two hundred and 
forty-two wounded. Seventeen hundred and fifty-one 
])risoners were captured, eighteen cannon, five stand of 
colors, and large quantities of commissary-stores. All 
the roads to Vicksburg were opened. 

Grant immediately ordered bridges to be built ; and 
cotton-gins, boards, timbers fi'om the farm-houses, and 
cotton-bales, were brought into requisition for this pur- 
pose. At one point, an ingenious bridge was thrown 
over by simply felhng large trees on both sides so as to 
unite their tops in the middle of the stream. 



i 



Battle at Big Black River. 145 

That night, Sherman, who had the pontoon -train, was 
ordered to cross the riv^er at Bridgeport, north of the 
railroad ; Grant adding, " We will move in three col- 
umns, if roads can be found to move on ; and either have 
Vicksburg or Haine's Blutf to-morrow night." 

Early the next morning, McPherson and McClernand, 
with their columns, were moving on Vicksburg, now 
fifteen miles distant. At daylight, Sherman's division 
also crossed the river higher up, and struck for Walnut 
Hills, north of Vicksburg, between it and Haine's Bluff, 
and commanding the entrance to the Yazoo River. 

By half-past nine o'clock, the head of Gen. Sherman's 
columns halted within three miles and a half of Vicks- 
burg for the remainder of the force to come up. 

During this campaign, for thirteen days the men had 
only six days' rations and such supplies as the country 
afforded ; grinding their own corn, and marching with- 
out tents or cooking-utensils : yet all were prompt and 
cheerful in the discharge of their duty.* 

In eighteen days. Grant had marched two hundred 
miles, fought five battles, taken six thousand and five 
hundred prisoners, killed and wounded six thousand 
more, taken twenty-seven cannon and sixty-one pieces 
of field-artillery. He had compelled the evacuation of 
Grand Gulf, captured the capital of the State of Mis- 
sissippi, and destroyed its network of railroads for more 
than thirty miles in all directions. 

His losses were six hundred and ninety-eight killed, 
three thousand four hundred and seven wounded, and 
two hundred and thirty missing. 

He had subsisted his army on the enemy's territoiy. 

10 

* McClernSnd's Report. 



146 Life of General Grant. 

The whole campaign was a new thing in war, 
and was the model of " the great march to the sea." 
This was the first instance in history of an army march- 
ing into an enemy's country, and depending on their 
haversacks for daily supplies. Napoleon had levied 
contributions on cities and countries ; but they were 
often in money, always ordered in advance, and, in 
many instances, months before his army left Paris. 

And here a strange scene took place. The fi'iendship 
of Grant and Sherman will live in history as one of 
the many remarkable incidents of the war. It has for 
centuries been observed that great men seldom choose 
friends so much for mental as for social qualities. Heroes 
rarely seek companions in their equals. Eagles fly 
alone. Achilles does not seek friendship with Ajax, 
but the gentle Patroclus ; and ^neas soothes himself 
with the affection of Achates, and not the companion- 
ship of Diomed. It was not Ney, " the bravest of the 
brave," but the unknown Col. Muiron, whom Napoleon 
loved, and whose name he wished to wear in his exile 
at St. Helena. Grant and Sherman rode out alone on 
the summit of one of the highest of the Walnut Hills, 
and gazed in silence on the panorama at their feet, — the 
river ; the city ; the great prizes of the campaign ; the 
Yazoo, along whose banks Sherman had led his column 
by torchlight ; Haine's Bluff, which had tossed back the 
Federal troops as the rocky shore flings back the ocean 
spray ; and the long line of batteries unassailable by the 
navy. Neither spoke. The letter of Sherman to Grant, 
remonstrating against the campaign so earnestly, had 
never been mentioned. Sherman now turned suddenly 
to Grant, and said, "Until this moment, I never thought 



I 



Battle at Big Black River. 147 

your expedition a success. I never could see the end 
clearly until now. But this is a campaign. This is a 
success if we never take the town." 

Haine's Bluff was abandoned by the enemy, and its 
garrison joined that of Vicksburg. Communication was 
opened with the river at the foot of Walnut Hills, and 
supplies of all kinds were forwarded to the troops. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURO. 



BY the 19th of May, Vicksburg, "the city of a 
hundred hills," was closely invested ; and its fall 
Avas only a question of time. The city was about four 
or five miles long, and nearly two miles wide. The 
defences consisted of detached redoubts connected by 
rifle-pits. The works on the land-side were eight miles 
long, with about four miles of heavy batteries on 
the water-front. It was intersected by ravines and 
ridcres covered by an impenetrable growth of cane and 
vines ; and, in front, heavy trees had been felled. It 
was a vast intrenched camp, with two hundred cannon 
mounted in commanding positions, and bristling with 
forty thousand bayonets in the hands of brave and 
determined men. 

Johnston had sent word to Pemberton, " If Maine's 
Bluff is untenable, Vicksburg is of no value," and urging 
him to save his army. Pemberton was holding a council 
of war to determine what he shovild do, when the guns 
of the Union army announced that Grant had already 
decided this question, and that escape was impossible. 

His expectation now was, that the Confederate Gov- 
ernment would relieve him before the place could be 
taken. 

U8 



I 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 149 

Johnston was gathering an army to attack Grant in 
the rear. Grant had no force equal to besieging 
Pemberton, preventing a sortie of his army, and at tlie 
same time figliting a battle with thirty thousand under 
Johnston. The army was impatient for an assault 
before settling down to the dull, tedious labor of engi- 
neering ; and at this time it was not supposed that 
Pemberton had over twelve or fifteen thousand men. 
His full force was not known until their surrender. 

It was determined to make an assault at two o'clock 
on the 19th ; which was done with great bravery. The 
Thirteenth United-States Infantry planted their colors 
on the outer works. The Eighty-third Indiana and 
the Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois reached a 
similar position at the same time. Gen. Blair secured 
and held an advanced position until ordered to flill back. 
But the strength of the works was too great to be 
carried in that manner before night settled down over 
the scene ; and the troops fell back. 

The bombardment, especially from the mortar-boats, 
was so severe, that the people began digging caves in 
the sides of the hills ; and Pemberton, unable to feed 
his horses and mules, drove them outside his lines. 

On the 22d, it was determined to make one more 
attempt to carry Vicksburg by storm. Gen. Grant 
knew that Johnston was concentratino; a large armv at 
Canton ; and he was desirous of capturing Vicksburg, so 
that he could attack this army, and drive the rebels out 
of the State, giving to the government the railroads and 
military highways west of the Tombigbee, before the heat 
of summer came on. He was anxious also to save the 
necessity of sending to him any re-enfbrcements which 



150 Life of General Grant. 

were needed so much elsewhere. The troops also were 
fully persuaded that the works, which were only four 
hundred yards distant, could be carried by storm, and 
would have been disheartened to enter the trenches for 
a prolonged siege until this was settled. 

A commander is unwise who wholly disregards the 
convictions of an army of thirty thousand intelligent 
men in such a case, even if they do not wholly agree 
with his mature judgment. 

Orders were given for a general assault at ten o'clock 
on the 22d. " Promptly at the hour designated, all 
will start at quick time, with bayonet fixed, and march 
immediately upon the enemy, without firing a gun until 
the outer works are carried." 

Watches of the corps commanders were compared, 
and set by that of the general commanding. At five 
minutes before ten, the bugles sounded to prepare for a 
charge ; and at ten precisely the three army cori)s of 
McClernand, McPherson, and Sherman, moved on the 
works. Gen. Grant was in a commanding position 
near Sherman's corps, which gave him the best view 
of the advancing columns. 

A forlorn hope of a hundred and fifty men, with 
poles and boards, was to bridge the ditch in the face 
of the concentrated fire of five batteries. Not a man 
or rifle of the rebels was seen until the storming-i)ar- 
ties began to ascend the ridge, when along the whole 
line they opened a most murderous fire, against which 
it was simply self-murder to persist. 

Regiment after regiment pushed on, and at different 
points placed their colors on the outer s1o]K's of the ene- 
my's works. At one point, a handt'ul of men led by Ser- 



The Siege of Vicksburg, 151 

geant Griffith, a lad not twenty years old, of the Twenty- 
second Iowa, entered one bastion ; but all were captured 
except the brave Griffith, who secured thirteen rebels 
as prisoners. While this was going on, the fleet and 
mortar-boats, with 100-pound Parrotts mounted on 
rafts, were filling the air with their deadly missiles, 
and raining shot, shell, fire, and death upon the city 
from the river. The sight was awful and sublime. The 
constant booming of so many hundred heavy cannon, 
the shells screeching and exploding, and the tens of 
thousands of Minle-balls whizzing; throuirh the air in 
every direction, drove to desperation the enraged com- 
batants. 

There were deeds of unsurpassed bravery throughout 
the day. White's Chicago Mercantile Battery actually 
put their ammunition in their haversacks, and dragged 
their heavy guns by hand, while under constant fire, 
down one slope and up another, and fired into one of 
the embrasures. 

But all in vain. The inner works commanded the 
outer. The natural and artificial strength of the place 
was too great, and the army defending it too large, for 
an army of only equal numbers to carry it by assault. 

The long wars of Napoleon showed no such daring 
assault. It was fifty-one thousand Englishmen under 
Wellington at Badajos that assaulted five thousand 
French, and it was thirty-five thousand English at 
Ciudad Rodrigo that assaulted seventeen hundred 
French. 

It was now evident that Vicksburg could only be 
taken by regular siege ; and this was commenced with- 
out a day's delay. Hurlbut and Prentiss were ordered 



152 Life of General Grant. 

to send forward " every available man that could possi- 
bly be spared." " The siege of Vicksburg is going to 
occupy time, contrary to my expectations when I arrived 
near it. . . . Contract every thing on the line of the 
route from Memphis to Corinth, and keep your cavalry 
well out south of there : by this means, you ought to be 
able to send here quite a large force." 

And now earthworks and covered ways were erect- 
ed ; and the soldiers took practical lessons in engi- 
neering, and became learned in the technicalities 
of the science. Trenches, revets, salients, gabions, 
banquettes, boyau, mining, and counter-mining were 
the order ot the day. " Vicksburg must be taken." 
The labor in the trenches was greatly aided by large 
numbers of negroes. The length of all the trenches 
was twelve miles. Eighty-nine batteries were con- 
structed ; and by the 3d of June two hundred and 
twenty guns were in position. The very small number 
of professional engineers with the army required Gen. 
Grant to give personal supervision to the details of the 
sieo-e in different sections of the work almost from hour 
to hour. Occasionally the rebels would open mmes, and 
sometimes make a sortie, but with little effect. Their 
desire seemed to be to save their men, and Avait for re- 
lief from Johnston. At one point, the pickets of the 
besieged and besiegers agreed not to fire on each other 
at nioht, when the principal labor was done, and allotted 
the ground between them so that woi-king-parties were 
not ten vards aj)art. The amount of labor performod 
nio-ht and day was prodigious. Those not in the 
trenches were picking otf the rebels by shar})shooting 
whenever a head was seen ; or working the artillery, 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 153 

which never seemed to be silent. On the 4th of June, 
Johnston had collected, by his own report, an army of 
about twenty-seven thousand men, which he was en- 
deavoring to increase to forty thousand. Grant really 
had two armies on his hands. Expeditions were sent 
east to the Big Black River to destroy bridges and 
forage, and to bring in cattle and every thing which 
could be of use to Johnston's army. 

Gen. Blair was sent with twelve thousand men to 
drive off the enemy between the Yazoo and the Big 
Black River, where Johnston was gathering large sup- 
plies. Grant was attacking Pemberton on the west, and 
at the same time carefully preparing to defend himself 
from Johnston on the east. While besieo-incr, he was 
threatened with a siege. Pemberton now conceived 
the idea of tearing down the houses of Vicksburg to 
build two thousand boats with which his army mioht 
escape over the river ; and Vicksburg was turned into a 
sort of navy-yard " ad interim.'" But the boats, if boats 
they could be called, never touched the river. After 
the capture of the city, many of them were examined 
by our soldiers as curious specimens of marine archi- 
tecture. 

On the 22d, it was expected that Johnston would 
advance. Sherman was ordered to look after him : and 
Grant said, " They seem to put a great deal of faith in 
the Lord and Joe Johnston ; but 2/011 must whip John- 
ston at least fifteen miles from here." To Herron and 
A. J. Smith he wrote, " Should Johnston come, we 
want to whip him, if the siege has to be raised to do it." 
To Parke he wrote, " We want to whip Johnston at least 
fifteen miles off if possible." To McClernand, "Hold 



154 Life op General Grant. 

and fight the enemy wherever he presents himself^ 
from the extreme right to the extreme left. The 
movements of an enemy necessarily determine coun- 
ter-movements." To another, " Certainly^ use the 
negroes^ and every thing within your command^ to the 
best advantage. Travel with as little baggage as pos- 
sible, and use your teams as an ordnance and supply 
train." To Ord, " Keep Smith's division sleeping 
mider arms to-night. Notify Lauman to be in readi- 
ness all night." To Washburne, " Make the detail 
with reference to the competency of the colonel who 
will command the expedition. lie must be a live and 
active man." 

To maintain himself thus between two armies, re- 
quired, as may well be imagined, the most constant and 
untirino; vio;ilance ; and Johnston, after a full studv of 
the situation, wrote to the Secretary of War at Rich- 
mond, " Grant's position, naturally very strong, is in- 
trenched, and protected by powerful artillery, and the 
roads obstructed. . . . The Big Black covers him from 
attack, and would cut off our retreat if defeated." 

Pemberton was writing, " Enemy bombards day and 
night from seven mortars. He also keeps 'up constant 
fire on our line with artillery and musketry." Again 
he says, " On the Graveyard Road [significant name to 
the rebel army], the enemy's M-orks are within twenty- 
five feet of our redan. ^ly men have been thirty-four 
days and nights in the trenches without relief, and the 
enemy within conversation-distance." 

On the 2.")th, a mine which had been prepared was 
exploded. The mine contained two thousand two hun- 
dred pounds of powder. At three o'clock, word was 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 155 

brought that all was ready. Two hundred men from 
the Forty-fifth Illinois and the Twenty-third Indiana 
were to lead the forlorn hope. Many were in their 
shirt-sleeves, and carrying nothing but their guns and 
cartridge-boxes, prepared for close and hard fightiufi-. 
These men were in view of thousands whom the thrill- 
ing excitement of the moment hushed into silence. A 
few moments, and the fuses exploded, and the earth 
was lifted to the skies as with the power of an earth- 
quake. The vast mass of powder blazed up ; the chasm 
yawned, and showed a sea of surging flame, as if the 
globe Itself had opened to spout out its great central 
fires. Sods, earth, rocks, cannon, broken gun-carriages, 
mangled remains of men, all mingled in confusion, were 
hurled a hundred feet into the air. Strange to say, 
some of the rebels were carried over and landed alive 
withni the Union lines. Simultaneously, twelve miles 
of artillery and rifles opened with their dread roar. The 
cavity made in the earth w^as large enough to hold two 
thousand men, into which the combatants rushed with 
maddened fury. The soldiers called it " the death- 
hole." There, with rifles, bayonets, clubbed muskets, 
hand-grenades, revolvers, the struggling mass fought 
until after nightfall. The Union soldiers were unable 
to enter the inner lines, but held their ground ; and the 
next day extended rifle-pits across the opening. 

Thus the siege progressed. Pemberton especially, 
after Grant's successes in the opening of the campaign, 
was accused of " selling Vicksburo;," and made the 
most determined efforts to hold the city. He had early 
made a speech to the citizens and soldiers, in which he 
said, " You have heard that I am incompetent, and a 



156 Life of General Grant. 

traitor ; and that it was my intention to sell Vicksburg. 
Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I will 
sell Vicksburg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, 
and flour, the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog, 
and horse and dog, shall have been consumed, and the 
last man shall have perished in the trenches, — then, 
and only then, will I sell Vicksburg," 

Forty-seven days and nights the work w'cnt on. 
Seven thousand mortar-shells, and four thousand five 
hundred shells from the gunboats, had been thrown into 
the devoted city. The houses burned, and torn to 
pieces, the citizens had been obliged to find shelter in 
holes dug in the earth in the sides of the hills ; and here 
parents died, and c:hildren were born. Flour was a 
thousand dollars a barrel (rebel money) ; meal, a hun- 
dred and i'ovty dollars a bushel ; mule-meat, one dollar a 
pound. Mule-soup was a luxury. The rich had eaten 
their last crust ; and now rich and poor were meeting 
starvation together. The soldiers were living on bran- 
bread, and hah-rations at that. The heats of summer 
were now iilHng the exhausted and worn-out frames of 
the soldiers with the pestilence of the swamps. Nature 
was undermining the rebel camp more surely than the 
art of man. 

A rebel woman living in the outskirts, who had 
remained in her battered tenement, asked Gen. Grant 
one day, when he stopped for some water, if he ever 
expected to take Vicksburg. He said, " Yes." 

" But when ? " said the woman. 

" I don't know /rhen ; but I shall take it if I stay 
liere thirty years.'* His determination had greater 
longevity than she had imagined. 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 157 

To illustrate the character of this civil war : The pick- 
ets of the two armies at one point were accustomed at 
last to meet at night at a well between the lines, where 
they would discuss the cause of the war, the rights of 
the South and slavery ; and, when debate grew excited, 
they would part, as they said, " to avoid getting into a 
fight on the subject." It was, in truth, a war of ideas, 
— an " irrepressible conflict " between liberty and 
slavery. 

Meanwhile, parlor -soldiers, solemn croakers, who 
opened their papers at quiet firesides, and read daily, 
" Siege of Vicksburg progressing," shook their wise 
heads, and said, " They'll never take that place : it's a 
perfect Gibraltar." 

At this time, Grant was not only confident of success, 
but mentally reaching forward to other operations. To 
Gen. Banks he writes, " Should it be my fortune, 
general, to get into Vicksburg while you are still in- 
vesting Port Hudson, I will commence immediately 
shipping troops to you, and will send such number as 
you may indicate as being necessary." To Halleck, 
who had aided him with energy as far as possible since 
his campaign became pronounced, he wrote, " There is 
no doubt of the fall of this place viltimately." Later 
he says, " The enemy are now undoubtedly in our 
grasp. The fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of most 
of the garrison, can only be a question of time." 

On the 30th of June he writes, " The troops of this 
command are in excellent health and spirits. There is 
not the slightest indication of despondency either 
among officers or men." 

The walls of fire were steadily closing around Vicks- 



158 ' Life op General Grant. 

burg, day by Jay, hour by hour. On the 1st of July, 
Grant was preparing another assault ; when, on the 
morning of the 3d, a white flag was seen flying from 
the rebel lines : and Gen. Bowcn, and Col. Montn-omerv 
of Gen. Pemberton's stafl*, left for the Union camp. 
The rebel soldiers imagined a surrender was to be made, 
and were much excited. Gen. Bowen was the bearer 
of a letter to Gen. Grant. After being blindfolded, 
these officers were conducted to Gen. Smith's quarters, 
Avhere the following letter from Gen. Pemberton was 
delivered : — 

" I have the honor to propose to you an armistice of hours, 

with a view to arranging; termS for the capitulation of Yicksburg. 
To this end, if agreeable to you, I will appoint three commis- 
sioners to meet a like number to be named by yourself at such 
place and hour as you may find convenient. I make this proposi- 
tion to save the i'urther effusion of blood, which must otherwise be 
shed to a frightful extent ; feeling myself fully able to maintain my 
position for a yet indefinite period. This communication will be 
handed you, under a flag of truce, by Major-Gen. J. S. Bowen. 

To which Gen. Grant returned the following reply: — 

" Your note of this date is just received, proposing an armis- 
tice for several hours for the purpose of arranging terms of cajjitu- 
lation through conunissioners to be appointed, &c. Tlie effusion 
of blood you propose stojjping by this course can be ended at 
any time you may choose by an unconditional surrender of the 
cily and garr'ison. ]\Ien who have shown so much endurance and 
courage as those now iu Yicksburg will always challenge the 
respect due them as piisoncrs of war. I do not favor the proposi- 
tion of appointing conunissioners to arrange terms of capitulation, 
becau.<e I have no oilier terms than those indicated above." 

Gen. Bowen desired a personal interview with Gen. 



The Siege of Vicksburg. ' 159 

Grant ; which the latter dechned. Upon the suggestion 
of the former, an interview between the two com- 
manders was arranged for three o'clock that day. 

At three o'clock, a signal-gun was fired ; and Gen. 
Pemberton, with Gen. Bowen and Col. Montn;omerv, 
left the rebel works. Gen. Grant rode through the 
Union trenches to an outlet leading to a spot of green 
earth which had not been trod by either army, about 
two hundred feet from the rebel lines. With him were 
Generals McPherson, Logan, Ord, and Smith, and one 
or two of Grant's staff. The two commanders, having 
never met, were introduced, and exchanged the saluta- 
tion of gentlemen. 

The interview was witnessed by thousands of both 
armies, who crowded the parapets unarmed, and gazed 
with deep and silent interest on the scene. The day 
was sultry, and the summer air as still as if it had 
never for centuries resounded to the voice of war. 

After a moment's silence, Gen. Pemberton said, — 

" Gen. Grant, I meet you in order to arrange terms 
for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its 
garrison. What terms do you demand ? " 

" Unconditional surrender," said Grant. 

" If this is all," said Pemberton with assumed im- 
patience and hauteur^ " the conference may terminate, 
and hostilities be resumed immediately." 

" Very well," said Gen. Grant, and turned to walk 
away. 

The acquaintance of the men had not been long 
enough to show to Pemberton that Grant was a man 
who wasted no words, but who said what he meant, 
and meant what he said. 



160 Life of General Grant. 

Gen. Bowen now ventured to suggest that two of 
the subordinates should confer, and present some basis 
of neo-otiation for their chiefs, (xrant said he had no 
objections, but should be bound by no such action, and 
should be governed by his own sense of duty. 

Bowen and Smith conversed a few moments ; while 
Grant and Pemberton stepped aside, and engaged in 
conversation under a large oak-tree. Very soon. Gen. 
Bowen proposed that the rebels should march out from 
Vicksburg with honors of war ; taking their muskets 
and field-guns, but leaving their heavy artillery. Grant 
smiled at this proposal, and said it was inadmissible. 
It was finally agreed that he should send his terms in 
writing before ten o'clock that niMit. Meanwhile 
hostilities were not to be resumed until negotiations 
were at an end. 

He returned to his tent, and for the first time sum- 
moned his corps commanders and generals to a council 
of war as to the terms which should be offered ; but 
none of them, with a single exception, proposed terms 
which he was willing to accept. 

He finally sent the following letter to Gen. Pember- 
ton : — 

" In conformity with agreement of tMs afternoon, I will submit 
the following proposition for the surrender of the city of Vicks- 
burg, public stores, &c. On your accepting tlie terms proposed, I 
will march in one division as a guard, to take possession at eight 
o'clock, A.M., to-morrow. As soon as rolls can be made out, ami 
paroles signed by officers and men, you will be allowed to march 
out of our lines, — the officers with their side-arms and clothing ; 
and the field, statT, and cavalry officers, one horse each. Tlie 
rank and file will be allowed all their clothing, but no other prop- 
erty. If these couditious are accepted, any amount of rations you 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 161 

may deem necessary can be taken from the stores you now have, 
and also all the necessary cooking utensils tor preparing them. 
Thirty wagons also, counting two-horse or mule teams as one, will 
be allowed to transport such articles as cannot be carried along. 
The same conditions will be allowed to all sick and wounded offi- 
cers and soldiers, as fast as they become able to travel. The pa- 
roles for these latter must be signed, however, while officers are 
present authorized to sign the roll of prisoners." 

Pemberton submitted these terms to a council of his 
officers, all of whom, with one exception, advised their 
acceptance ; and late at night he sent the following to 
Gen Grant : — 

" I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your commu- 
nication of this date, proposing terms of capitulation for this gar- 
rison and post. In the main, yom* terms are accepted ; but, in 
justice both to the honor and spirit of my troops manifested in 
the defence of Vicksburg, I have to submit the following amend- 
ments, which, if acceded to by you, will perfect the agreement 
between us. 

" At ten o'clock, A.M., to-morrow, I propose to evacuate the 
works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city and 
garrison under my command, by marching out with my colors and 
arms, stacking them in front of my present lines ; after which you 
will take possession. Officers to retain their side-arms and per- 
sonal property, and the rights and property of citizens to be 
respected." 

This was not received until midnight ; but Grant 
replied immediately as follows : — 

" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your commu- 
nication of the 3d of July. The amendment proposed by you 
cannot be acceded to in full. It will be necessary to furnish every 
officer and man with a parole signed by himself, which, with the 
11 



162 Life of General Grant. 

completion of the roll of prisoners, will necessarily take some 
time. 

" Again : I can make no stipulations with regard to the treat- 
ment of citizens and their private property. AVhile I do not 
propose to cause them any undue annoyance or loss, I cannot con- 
sent to leave myself under any restraint by stipulations. The 
property which olhcers will be allowed to take with them will be 
as stated in my proposition of last evening ; that is, officers will 
be allowed their pi-ivate baggage and side-arms, and mounted 
officers one hoi'se each. 

" If you mean, by your proposition, for each brigade to march 
to the front of the lines now occupied by it, and stack arms at ten 
o'clock, A.M., and then return to the inside, and there remain as 
prisoners until properly paroled, I will make no objection to it. 
Should no notification be received of your acceptance of my terms 
by nine o'clock, a.m., I shall regard them as having been rejected, 
and shall act accordingly. Should these terms be accepted, white 
flags should be displayed along your lines to prevent such of my 
troops as may not have been notified from firing upon your 
men." 

Gen. Pemberton returned an immediate answer as 
follows : — 

" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your commu- 
nicatijn of this day, and in reply to say that the terms proposed 
by you are accepted." 

On receipt of Pemberton's first letter, while the 
correspondence was still progressing, Gen. Grant sent 
the following orders to Sherman : " There is little 
doubt but that the enemy will surrender to-night or in 
the morning. Make your calculations to attack John- 
ston, and destroy the road north of Jackson." 

To Generals Steele and Ord, similar orders were is- 
sued. " I want," says Grant, " Johnston broken up as 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 163 

effectually as possible. You can make your own 
arrangements, and have all the troops of my command 
except one corps." 

Nothing can show more clearly the unremitting 
energy of Gen. Grant's character than the issuing of 
these orders that night. 

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July, 
regiment after regiment of the rebel army marched out 
in front of their breastworks, and, in view of the Union 
soldiers, laid down their arms and colors. It was not 
until afternoon that the army, preceded by Logan's 
division, marched into the city. The Forty-fifth Illinois 
raised the national ensign on the court-house ; and, as it 
spread itself to the breeze, thousands of the troops greet- 
ed it with the well-known sono;, beii;innin<i, — 

" Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again, 
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom ! " 

Gen. Grant rode to Gen. Pemberton's headquarters, 
where it might be supposed he was entitled, under the 
circumstances, to the ordinary civilities of private life. 
He alighted at the porch ; but there was no one to re- 
ceive him. He made his way into the house, where he 
found Pemberton and his staff: no one gave him a seat. 
The day was exceedingly hot and dusty, and Gen. Grant 
asked for a glass of water. He was curtly told he could 
find it inside. He wandered about the premises, until 
the negro, ever present where a service could be done to 
a Union soldier, furnished the needed refreshment. Pem- 
berton asked Gen. Grant to supply his famished soldiers 
with rations ; which Grant at once did. Gen. Pemberton 
could be indebted to Gen. Grant's grace and favor for the 



164 Life of General Grant. 

sword he wore, could ask from his captor the honors of 
war for himself and his army, receive from his hands 
the bread they were to eat ; but he could not return to 
him the ordinary civilities of society. By such means 
do little men show their littleness. 

Admiral Porter with his glass had seen the national 
flag raised ; and before night seventy steamers were 
lying at the levees, and more were coming. All was 
activity : the long embargo was removed. From a be- 
sieged garrison, Vicksburg had in appearance changed, 
in a few- hours, to a thriving inland city. 

The surrender of the city was a surprise to many, 
especially to the talking rebels. Some Union soldiers 
strolled into the office of " The Citizen," the valiant 
rebel newspaper. It had been printed on house-paj)er. 
The forms of the paper for the second day of July were 
still standing ; and these words appeared : " The great 
Ulysses — the Yankee generalissimo, surnamed Grant 
— has expressed his intention of dining in Vicksburg on 
Saturday next, and celebrating the 4th of July by a 
grand dinner. Ulysses must get into the city before he 
dines in it. The way to cook a rabbit is ' first to catch 
the rabbit,' " &c. This inflated bluster was quite in 
keeping with the management of the Rebellion. The 
people of Vicksburg were starving, living in caves, ex- 
alting mule-soup and fricasseed kittens into luxuries ; 
yet their resources for boasting were inexhaustible, and 
they printed their silly defiance on house-paper until the 
hour of surrender. 

Some of our soldiers, whose fingers were as skilful 
with types as with rifles, added these words : " Two 
days bring about great changes. The banner of tlio 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 165 

Union floats over Vicksburg. Gen. Grant has caught 
the rabbit: he has dined in Vicksburg." * 

Gen. Grant saw Gen. McPherson in possession of 
elegant lieadquarters in the city, but at night went back 
to his tent in the canebrakes. 

The tidings of the surrender were telegraphed to the 
principal towns and cities of the North in the afternoon, 
and, with the news of the battle at Gettysburg, illu- 
mined the closing hours of the great national holiday. 

The results of the whole campaign were the defeat 
of the enemy in five battles; the occupation of Jackson, 
the capital of the State ; a loss to the enemy of fifty-six 
thousand prisoners, and at least ten thousand killed and 
wounded. Arms and munitions of war for sixty thou- 
sand men, railroad-cars, locomotives, steamboats, were 
destroyed in large numbers. Thirty-one thousand and 
six hundred of the above prisoners were surrendered 
with Vicksburg, a hundred and seventy-two cannon, 
and thirty-five thousand rifles and muskets. 

Grant had lost 943 killed, 7,095 wounded, 537 miss- 
ing. Half the wounded in a few weeks recovered, and 
were on duty. He announced this great victory to the 
government in the following terms : " The enemy 
surrendered this morning. The only terms allowed is 
their parole as prisoners of war. This I regard as a 
great advantage to us at this moment. It saves, proba- 
bly, several days in the capture, and leaves troops and 

* When Moscow was occupied by the French, a moiniment was erected 
\n Coblentz with this inscription: "In honor of the memorable campaign 
against the Russians in 1812." Two years after, Col. Mardeuke, the Rus- 
sian commander at Coblentz, left the monument untouched, but caused the 
following words to be cut under the inscription : " Seen and approved by 
the Russian commander of Coblentz, 1814." 



166 Life of General Grant. 

transports ready for immediate service. Sherman, with 
a largo force, moves immediately upon Johnston to 
drive him from the State." 

Gen. Grant had made the largest capture ever made 
in war. The nearest approach to it was by Napoleon 
at Ulm ; but there only thirty thousand prisoners and 
sixty guns were taken, and by a much larger army than 
Grant's. 

This was the heaviest blow the Rebellion had ever 
received, and was one from which it never recovered. 
The thirty-two thousand prisoners, who had been well 
treated by Gen. Grant after taking possession of Vicks- 
burg, and had mingled freely with our soldiers, scattered 
through the South to spread the news of the great dis- 
aster and predict the future of the " lost cause." An 
entire army had been taken out of the Rebellion. The 
great river was opened : the Confederacy Avas rent in 
twain. 



I 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PORT HUDSON TAKEN. 



/~^ ENERALS Sherman and McPherson were rec- 
vZT" ommended for appointment as brigadier-generals 
in the regular army in these noble words : — 

" Tlie first reason for this is tlieir great fitness for any command 
that it may ever become necessary to intrust to them. Second, 
their great purity of character, and disinterestedness in every thing 
except the faithful performance of their duty, and the success of 
every one engaged in the great battle for the preservation of tlie 
Union. Tliird, they have honorably won this distinction upon 
many well-fought battle-fields. The promotion of such men as 
Sherman and McPherson always adds strength to our army." 

President Lincoln addressed the following letter to 
Gen. Grant, so characteristic for its candor and hon- 
esty. It was dated July 13, 1863, at the Executive 
Mansion. 

Dear General, — I do not remember that you and I ever met 
personally. I write now as a grateful acknowledgment for the 
almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to 
say further, when you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I 
thought you should do what you finally did, — march the troops 
across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go 
below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that 
vou knew better than I, that the Yazoo-pass expedition and the 

167 



168 Life of General Grant. 

like could succeed. T\Taen you got better, and took Port Gibson, 
Great Gulf, .and the vicinity, I thought you should go down the 
river, and join Gen. Banks ; and when you turned northward, east 
of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make 
a personal acknowledgment that you was right, and I was wrong. 

Yours very truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

It was about this time tliat an ardent temperance 
man, in speaking of Gen. Grant's successes to Presi- 
dent Lincoln, repeated some of the stories in regard to 
Gen. Grant's habits ; adding, — 

" It's a pity he is such a drunkard." 

Mr. Lincohi, who had never countenanced these 
attacks, asked, — 

" Do you know wliat kind of hquor he drinks ? " 

" No, sir," was the answer ; " and I don't know that 
that is essentiah" 

" The reason I asked," said Mr. Lincoln with a 
twinkle in his eye, but without moving a muscle of his 
face, " was, that, if I knew, I should like to send some 
of the same licjuor to some of our other generals." * 

President Lincoln was a rigid temperance man him- 
self. He refused to furnish or allow others to offer wine 
at his house to the committee who went to Springfield 
to inform him of his nomination for President. His 
visitor saw that Mr. Lincoln wished to show the 
absurdity of thinking that a man could possibly do 
what Grant had accomplished in that campaign while 
debauched and enfeebled by intemperance. 

* Some one was lamenting to old George II. that the war-office had 
placed confidence in such a red-haired, daring, hot-brained young officer as 
Gen. Wolfe, and sent him to Quebec; adding, " Wolfe is mad, your Majes- 
ty." — " Is he? " said the king. " I wish he would bite some of my other 
generals." 



Port HuDbON Taken. 169 

Port Hudson, which had been invested for some 
weeks by Gen. Banks and liis army, surrendered on 
the 9th of July ; and the Mississippi, as Mr. Lincoln 
expressed it, " rolled unvc'xeil to the sea." 

On the evening- of the 4th, Ord and Steele had 
moved out of camp ; and on tlie Gth Sherman was able 
to cross the Big Black River with not less than fifty 
thousand men. '" I want you," said Grant, " to drive 
Johnston from the Mississippi Central Railroad, destroy 
the bridges as far north as Grenada with your cavalry, 
and do the enemy all the harm possible." 

They were to march through places not easily for- 
gotten. " They came," said Grant, "by Black-river 
Bridge, Edward's Station, and Champion's Hill. That 
is the route they now go." To Sherman he says again, 
" I have no suggestion or orders to give. I want you 
to drive Johnston out in your own way, and inflict on 
the enemy all the punishment you can. I will support 
you to the last man that can be spared." 

Johnston fell back toward Jackson, where, on the 
9th, Sherman found him. The works here had been 
strengthened, and extended toward Pearl River, both 
above and below the city. Johnston was anxious that 
Sherman should attack him, and telegraphed to Jeffer- 
son Davis, " If the enemy will not attack, we must, or 
at the last moment withdraw." For similar reasons, 
Sherman would not attack. He sent out cavalry for 
sixty or seventy miles in every direction, destroying 
every thing that could aid the rebel army, and bringing 
the war home to the people who were sustaining it.* 

* It was during one of these raids that our cavalry overhauled the 
library and correspondence of .Teflferson Davi«i, finding a gold-headed cane 



170 Life of General Grant. 

On the 12th, Sherman's heavy guns commanded every 
part of the city, and more were being placed in position. 
Johnston saw the inevitable result ; and on the night of 
the 5th he quietly moved his army out across Pearl 
River, and Jackson was once more in the hands of our 
forces. 

Sherman decided that enough would not be gained 
by pursuit to warrant him in following Johnston a 
hundred miles across the country at that season of the 
year, in that climate ; and he completed the work of 
destruction around Jackson. He rendered it impracti- 
cable for Johnston to return and annoy Grant ; issued 
flour and pork to the starving families at Jackson and 
Clinton, who had been stripped by the demands of two 
armies ; and returned to Vicksburg. 

On the 11th of July, Gen. Grant wrote to the War 
Department, in regard to colored troops, as follows : " I 
am anxious to get as many of these negro regiments 
as possible, and to have them full, and completely 
equipped. ... I am particularly desirous of organiz- 
ing a regiment of heavy artillerists from the negroes 
to garrison this place, and shall do so as soon as pos- 
sible." 

On the 24th of July, " The negro troops are easier 
to preserve discipline among than our white troops, 



sent to him by Ex-President Franklin Pierce, and various letters from 
Northern men, encouraging the Rebellion; among them the letter of Pierce 
in whicii he says. " And if, through the madness of Northern abolitionists, 
that dire calamity must come, the fighting will not be along Mason and 
Dixon's line merely. It will be within our own borders, in our own streets, 
between the two classes of citizens to whom I have referred. Those who 
defy law, and scout constitutional obligations, will, if we ever reach the 
arbitrament of arms, find occupation enough at home." 



Poet Hudson Taken. 171 

and I doubt not will prove equally good for garrison- 
duty. All that have been tried have fought bravely." 

After the Emancipation Proclauiation was issued, 
orders were sent from Richmond to the rebel armies 
to "give no quarter " to black troops and their officers. 
It was held by the South that the black soldiers Avere 
runaway slaves, and the officers found with them were 
thieves ; and neither were entitled to the treatment of 
prisoners of Avar. In Grant's department and at 
Milliken's Bend occurred one of the first instances in 
which the rebels sought to carry out this theory. 
Grant, as we have seen, had never been technically 
an " abolitionist ; " but he recognized the events which 
the war revealed. He had lono; determined that war 
should support war. He had organized camps for 
fugitives, protected them from abuse, received and 
acted on the information Avhich they often brought him, 
and supported the policy of Mr. Lincoln on the ques- 
tion of " contrabands " as fast as it was pronounced. 
He did not anticipate the President and Congress in 
making a policy for them, but obeyed orders from time 
to time as they were issued. 

But his private opinions were none the less clear, 
statesman-like, and decided. As early as Aug. 30, 
1862, and before the Emancipation Proclamation was 
issued, he wrote to the Hon. E. B. Washburne of 
Illinois as follows : — 

" The people of the North need not quarrel over the institution 
of slavery. What Vice-President Stevens acknowledges the 
corner-stone of the Confederacy is ah-eady knocked out. Slavery 
is already dead, and cannot be resurrected. It Avould take a 
standing army to maintain slavery in the South, if we were to 



172 Life of General, Grant. 

make peace to-dny, guaranteeing to the South all their former 
constitutional privileges. I never was an abolitionist, not even 
what could be called antislavery ; but I try to judge fairly and 
honestly ; and it became patent to my mind, early iu the Rebellion, 
that the North and South could never live at peace with each 
other except as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious 
as I am to see peace established, I would not, therefore, be will- 
ing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled." 

In nothing was tlie arrogance of the slave-power 
more clearly seen than in their reasoning upon the 
relations of slaves to the war. They said, " Slaves are 
property : black soldiers shall be treated as fugitives, 
and their officers as having stolen them." But it is a 
universally acknowledged law of war, that the projoerty 
of the enemy can be used or destroyed. Horses, mules, 
cotton, hay, grain, cattle, could be seized, because they 
are " property." But slaves are property, — a species 
of property vital to the support of the Rebellion, — and 
should thcrefoiv be used by the government. But 
here the slaveholders instantly pleaded their rights under 
the Constitution which they were seeking to destroy. 
When the Union was assailed, the Constitution, in the 
eyes of slaveholders, was only a " compact," a piece of 
paper of no binding effect ; but, when slavery was 
assailed, the Constitution loomed up at once as " the 
great charter of our liberties," " a sacred bond," " a 
solemn covenant," to be obeyed though the heavens 
fell. 

Slaves could be made to work at the point of the 
bayonet, by thousands, on rebel fortifications ; and this 
was " constitutional ; " but for the government to allow 
slaves in the armies of the Union was " unconstitu- 
tional," said rebels and their Northern apologists. 



Port Hudson Taken. 173 

In an attack on Mllliken's Bend during the Vicks- 
burg campaign, it was rumored that several negro 
soldiers who had been captured were hung by the 
rebels. Gen. Grant addressed Gen. Richard Taylor 
on the subject in the following style: "I feel no inclina- 
tion to retaliate for offences of irresponsible persons ; 
but if it is the policy of any general intrusted with 
the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish 
with death prisoners taken in battle, I will accept the 
issue. It may be that you propose a different line of 
policy towards black troops, and officers commanding 
them, to that pi-actised towards white troops : if so, I 
can assure you that these colored troops are regularly 
mustered into the service of the United States. The 
government, and all officers under the government, are 
bound to give the same protection to these troops that 
they do to any other troops." 

Gen. Grant also issued the following orders for the 
care and protection of the freedmen in his depart- 
ment : — 

" At all military posts in States within this department where 
slavery has been abolished by the proclamation of the President 
of the United States, camps will be established ibr such freed 
people of color as are out of employment. 

" Commanders of posts or districts will detail suitable officers 
from the army as superintendents of such camps. 

" It will be the duty of such superintendents to see that suita- 
ble rations are drawn from the subsistence department for such 
people as are confided to their care. 

" All such persons supported by the government will be em- 
ployed in every practicable way, so as to a\oid as far as possible 
their becoming a burden upon the government. They may be 
hired to planters or other citizens, on proper assurance that ne- 
groes so hired will not be run off beyond the military jurisdiction 



174 Life of General Grant. 

of the United States. Tlioy may be employed upon any public 
works, in gathering crops from abandoned plantations, and gener- 
ally in any manner local commanders may deem for the best inter- 
ests of the government, in compliance with the law and the policy 
of the Administration. 

" It will be the duty of the provost-marshal at every military 
post to see that every negro within the jurisdiction of the mili- 
tary authority is employed by some white person, or is sent to the 
camps provided for freed people. 

" Citizens may make contracts with freed persons of color for 
their labor, giving wages per month in money ; or employ families 
of them by the year on plantations, &c., feeding, clotliing, and 
supporting the infirm as well as the able-bodied, and giving a 
portion, not less than one-twentieth, of the commercial part of 
their crops in payment for such service. 

" Where negroes are employed under this authority, the parties 
employing will register with the provost-marshal their names, 
occupation, and residence, and the number of negroes so 
employed ; they will enter into such bonds as the provost-mar- 
shal, Avith the approval of the local commander, may require for 
the kind treatment and proper care of those employed, and as 
security against their being carried beyond the employe's juris- 
diction. Notliing of this order is to be construed to embarrass the 
employment of such colored persons as may be required by the 
government." 

" By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant." 

It was at Milliken's Bend and Port Hudson that the 
bravery of the black soldiers first answered the ques- 
tion, " Will the negroes fight ? " Gen. Banks, in his 
report, said, " The position occupied by these troops 
was one of importance, and called for the utmost steadi- 
ness and bravery in those to whom it was confided. It 
gives me pleasure to report that they answered every 
expectation : in many respects, their conduct was 
heroic. No troops could be more determined or more 



Port Hudson Taken. 17o 

daring. They made during the day three charges 
upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy 
losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the 
other troops on the right of our line." 

The following lines by Mr. Boker were published 
about this time : — 

" Hundreds on hundreds fell : , 

But tliey are resting Tvell ; 
Scourges and sliackles strong 
Never shall do them wrong. 
Oh I to the living few, 
Soldiers, be just and true ; 
Hail them as comrades tried ; 
Fight with them side by side: 
* Never, in field or tent, 

Scorn the black regiment." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THEORIES OF TRADE. ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY. 

G'^ RANT now understood perfectly the cliaracter of 
^" the war, and urged a vigorcjus use of all the rec- 
Qo-nizcd means of Avcakeninir the enemy. Until the 
battle at Pittsburg Landing, he believed the difficulties 
could be settled by negotiations between the sections ; 
but, after he became satisfied of his mistake, he went 
for war with all its terrible realities. 

" Feed your armies on the country which makes the 
war ;"" Destroy every thing useful to the enemy;" 
*' Seize every thing useful to your own forces." Have 
no measures of half war and half peace. If you block- 
ade the rebel ports, and shut the South out from trade, 
shut them out wholly. Draw the cord so tight, that 
all commerce with them shall be strangled. Let there 
be no half trade and half non-mtercoursc. It was in 
this spirit that Gen. Grant thus, wrote to Washington 
in answer to su<ifrestions for partial tradinir: " Xo matter 
■what the restrictions- thrown around ti-adc\ if any what- 
ever is allowed, it will be made tlu> m.ans of supplying 
the enemy with all they want. Restrictions, if lived 
up to, make trade unprofitable ; and hence none but 
dishonest men jio into it. I will venture that no honest 
man has made money in West Teiniessee in the last* 
176 



Theories of Trade. 177 

year ; whilst many fortunes have been made there 
dui'ing that time. Tlie people in the Mississippi Valley 
are now nearly subjugated. Keep trade out but a few 
months, and I doubt not but that the work of subjun;a- 
tion will be so complete, that trade can be opened freely 
with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.'' 
He concluded, '■'■No theory of my own will ever stand 
in the ivay of my executing in good faith any order I 
may receive from those in authority over me : but my 
position has given me an opportunity of seeing wliat 
could not be known by persons away from the scene of 
war ; and I venture, therefore, great caution in opening 
trade with rebels." 

Gen. Halleck perceived fully the vast importance of 
the results achieved, and generously wrote to Grant, — 

"Youi- narration of the campaign, like the operations them- 
selves, is brief, soldierly, and in every respect creditable and satis- 
factory. In boldness of plan, rapidity of execution, and brilliancy 
of routes, these operations will compare most favorably with those 
of Napoleon about Ulm. You and your army have well deserved 
the gratitude of your country ; and it wUl be the boast of your 
children that theh fathers were of the heroic army wlueh re-opened 
the Mississippi River." 

Tlie rank of major-general in the regular army was 
conferred upon Gen. Grant ; and the country eveiy- 
wJiere rejoiced in the success of his armies. 

On the 26th of July he writes, " I am very much 
opposed to any trade whatever until the Rebellion in 
this part of the country is entirely crushed out." 

On the 13th of August, " My opinion is, that all 
trade with any enemy witli whom we are at war is cal- 
culated to weaken us indirectly. I am opposed to sell- 

12 



178 Life of General Grant. 

ing or buying from them whilst war exists, except those 
withhi our hues." 

Still later he says, " If trade is opened under any 
general rule, all sorts of dishonest men will engage in 
it ; taking any oath or obligation necessary to secure the 
privilege. Smuggling will at once commence, as it did 
at Memphis, Helena, and every other place where trade 
has been allowed within the disloyal States ; and the 
armed enemy will be enabled to procure from Northern 
markets every article they require." 

Yet, at the same time, application was made to Gen. 
Grant for medicines by the rebel sick at Raymond, and 
subsistence for some families who were in extreme suf- 
fering ; and he ordered supplies forwarded at once. 

He acted in the spirit of a father, and Avrote, "It 
should be our policy now to make as favorable an im- 
pression upon the people of this State as possible. 
Impress upon the men the importance of going through 
the State in an orderly manner, refraining from taking 
any thing not absolutely necessary for their subsistence 
while travelling. They should try to create as favorable 
an impression as possible upon the people ; and advise 
them, if it will do any good, to make efforts to have law 
and order established within the Union." 

There could be no wiser policy tlian this. A move- 
ment was soon after made by citizens near Pearl River 
to bring Mississippi back into the Union ; but it was 
premature. 

Grant now advised that IMobilc should be taken, the 
expedition starting from Lake Pontchartrain. If this 
advice had been followed, and an attack been made at 
once, there is little doubt that Mobile would have fallen, 



England's Neutrality. 179 

and the war have been shortened by a year. But this 
was not done. Tlie President himself wrote to Grant, 
"I see by a despateli of yours that you inchne strongly 
towards an expedition against Mobile. This woukl 
appear tempting to me also, were it not, that, in view 
of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed 
with the importance of re-establishing the national au- 
thoi'ity in Western Texas. 

The truth was, that tlie government at this time was 
greatly embarrassed by the movements of England and- 
France in Mexico, and desired to strengthen itself on 
the border-line between Mexico and Texas. It was 
impossible to foretell what the hostility of the English 
Government might prompt them to do. 

The policy of England had fastened slavery upon us 
as colonies, and her people had waxed rich upon the 
profits of the slave-trade. Within fifty years, a million 
and a half of its inhabitants were stolen from the coast of 
Africa by English ships, a quarter of a million of whom 
died from the horrors of the voyage ; and their floating 
corpses showed the track of the vessels. 

Their orators and writers never failed to denounce 
the crime of American slavery ; yet, when slavery made 
war upon the Repubhc, they hastened to bestow belliger- 
ent rights upon the slaveholders before the American 
minister could present himself at her court. 

In all the varieties of argument, ridicule, and persua- 
sion, the war for the Union was denounced in its causes, 
its objects, and the methods of its pursuit, by the states- 
men, the press, and the writers of England. 

Her people carried on a civil war for nearly a hun- 
dred years, until massacre and devastation had well- 



180 Lif:: or General Grant. 

nigli destroyed the land, on the question, whether, if the 
king died without a ehild, he sliould be followed bv his 
brother, or the son of his brother. 

Yet a nation three thousand miles distant from their 
shores, carrying on a war tor i'our j-ears to maintain its 
national life, and uphold human liberty, was execrated 
as exhibiting the " bloodiest picture in the book of time." 

Enghshmen dethroned seven of their kino-s, and be- 
headed another ; drove into exile the house of Stuart ; 
and importv_'d aliens from Germany, ignorant of their 
language and tlieir laws, to play for them the part of 
royalty ; and sneered at Americans because they had 
" no personal representative of loyalty." 

For years, the scaffolds of England were red with the 
blood of the noblest martyrs to liberty in Churcli and 
State ; and yet they sermonized to Americans on '' tol- 
eration in political differences." 

England built ships ibr the rebel navy, forged their 
guns, crowded their decks with sailors, furnished them 
with supplies, v.-elcomed and protected them in their 
ports, rejoiced in the destruction of oiu' unarmed mer- 
chantmen, sorrowed at rebel defeats, mourned over the 
sinking of " The Alabama " as if it were a national 
disaster, and boasted to us of their " strict neutrality." 

In India, England seized upon that vast country and 
its wealth ; and, when its rapacity and oppi'cssion for 
long years had goaded its people to resistance, they blew 
the rebel Sepoys in pieces from the mouths of their can- 
non, and preached to Americans of "■ magnanimity to 
rebels." 

In Ireland, England has robbed and ])lundered the 
inhabitants for five hundred years, and driven them like 



i 



England's Neutrality. 181 

exiles beyond the seas, and discourses to Americans of 
" moderation in politics." * 

During the campaign, furloughs had been granted 
only in extreme cases and for short periods. Now 
Grant ordered furloughs to be issued for thirty days to 
five per cent of the non-connnissioned officers and pri- 
vates, except those who 'had sliirked duty, or straggled 
on the march or from camps. All sick soldiers were 
also sent home. Gen. Grant had a special hatred of 
jobbing, speculating, or making money out of the 
war, but particularly out of the necessities of the sol- 
diers. As a practical illustration of the effect of " trade 
following the flag," and his care of the soldiers, the fol- 
lowing tact may be mentioned : As soon as the river 
was opened, steamers came to Vicksburg to convey fur- 
loughed troops up the river at extortionate charges, 
demanding twenty-five and thirty dollars for a passage 
from Vicksburg to Cairo. 

One steamer had its decks crowded with soldiers. 
Grant asked a man standing on the wheel-house, and 
giving orders loudly, " Are you the captain of this 
boat ? " 

" Yes, general." 

" How many soldiers have you on board ? " 

" About twelve hundred and fifty." 

" What have you charged for fare to Cairo ? " 

" From ten to twenty-five dollars each, general." 

" Ten to twenty-five dollars each ! Is that all ? Why, 

* No State paper issued during the war presented the conduct of the Eng- 
lish Government toward America with more clearness, force, and eloquence, 
than the eulogy on President Lincoln by Hon. Charles Sumner, .whose pen, 
as Johnson said of Goldsmith's, touches uothiiijj it does not adorn. 



182 Life of General Grant. 

tliat is too moderate ! It is a pity you should have to 
take the boys for so small a sum. You had better wait 
a while." Speaking to the officer on guard, he walked 
away. The steam whistled, the bell rung, the wheels 
began to move slowly ; but, for some reason, she was 
not cast off. The men could not understand it, until, in 
a few moments, an order came for the guard to keep the 
steamer until the captain paid back all over seven dol- 
lars taken for fare from each officer, and all over five 
dollars from each soldier ; and the order was obeyed. 

The men knew they had been victimized, but felt 
helpless. When they learned what the general had 
done, they gave " three cheers for Grant " with a will. 

Grant said to one of his staff, " Til teach these steam- 
boat-men that the boys Avho have opened the river for 
them are not to be plundered of their hard earnings on 
their first trip home. If ' trade is to follow the flag ' so 
soon, it shall be honest trade, so far as I can control it." 

It was necessary for Grant soon after to visit Mem- 
phis. Before leaving, the officers who had been wit- 
nesses of the incessant care and anxiety which Grant 
had given to the camj)aign desired to offer some testi- 
monial of their personal appreciation of his services to 
the country and to the army. They presented him with 
a splendid sword ; the handle representing a young 
giant crushing the Rebellion, elaborately designed ; the 
scabbard of solid silver ; the whole appropriately in- 
scribed, and enclosed in an elegant rosewood box bound 
with ivory and lined witli satin. 

Gen. Grant arrived at Memjihis on the 23ih of Au- 
gust, and was at once waited on by a committee of the 
citizens, and invited to a pubhc reception and dinner. 



J 



England's Neutrality. 183 

Though dishking all display, Grant did not feel at liber- 
ty to decline such a manifestation of loyalty on the part 
of the citizens, and accepted. He addressed to the 
committee the following admirable letter : — 

I received a copy of the resolutions passed by the loyal citizens 
of Memphis at the meeting held at the rooms of the Chamber of 
Commerce, Aug. 25, 1863, tendering me a public reception. In 
accepting this proposal, which I do at a great sacrifice of my per- 
sonal feelings, I simply desire to pay a tribute to the first public 
exhibition in Memphis of loyalty to the government, which I rep- 
resent in the Department of Tennessee. I should dislike to refuse, 
for considerations of personal convenience, to acknowledge every- 
where, or in any form, the existence of sentiments which I have so 
long and ardently desired to see manifested in this department. 
The stability of this government and the unity of this nation depend 
solely on the cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the people. 
While, therefore, I thank you sincerely for the kind expressions 
you have used towards myself, I am profoundly gratified at this 
public recognition, in the city of Memphis, of the power and au- 
thority of the government of the United States. I thank you, too, 
in the name of the noble army which I have the honor to command. 
It is composed of men whose loyalty is proved by their deeds of 
heroism and their willing sacrifices of life and health. They will 
rejoice with me that the miserable adherents of the Rebellion, 
whom their bayonets have di-iven from this fair field, are being 
replaced by men who acknowledge human liberty as (he only true 
foundation of human government. 

May your efforts to restore your city to the cause of the Union 
be as successful as have been theirs to reclaim it from the desjjotic 
rule of the leaders of the Rebellion ! 

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your very obedient servant, 
U. S. Grant, Major-GeneruL 

At the dinner, when the toast in honor of Gen. 
Grant was given, he declined to make a speech ; and 
Siu'geon Hewitt of his staff said, " I am instructed by 



184 Life of General Grant. 

Gen. Grant to say, that, as he has never been given to 
pubhc speaking, you will have to excuse him on this 
occasion ; and, as I am the only member of his staff 
present, I therefore feel it to be my duty to thank you 
for this manifestation of your good will, as also for tht 
numerous other kindnesses of which he has been the 
recipient ever since his arrival among you. Gen. 
Grant beheves, that, in all he has done, he has no more 
than accomplished a duty, and one, too, for which no 
particular honor is due. But the world, as you do, will 
accord otherwise." 

Gen. Grant could fight ; he could write : but he could 
not make a speech. "• If you want a man to talk,'' said 
the Greeks, " get an Athenian ; if you want a man to 
act, get a Spartan.*' 

Gen. Grant went down to Now Orleans to confer 
with Gen. Banks in regard to aifairs in Texas, stop- 
ping at Natchez, and inspecting this and other posts in 
his department. 

The following day, it was officially announced that 
trade on the river, throuiihout its lenfith, wuis free from 
all restrictions. 

A day or two after, Sept. 4, there was a grand re- 
view of the troops. An eye-witness thus describes 
the departure of Gen. Grant from his hotel : " Gen. 
Baidvs, accompanied by a numerous staff, was at the 
St. Charles Hotel as early as eight o'clock ; and at 
nine o'clock both generals left for Carrollton, where the 
review took place. The street was crowded to witness 
tlie departure of these officers ; all present being desir- 
ous of seeing Gen. Grant. He was in undress uniform, 
without sword, sash, or belt ; coat unbuttoned ; a low- 



t 



England's Neutrality. 1S5 

crowned black felt hat, without any mark upon it of 
military rank ; a pair of kid gloves ; and a cigar in 
his mouth.'" 

It seems often to be an indispensable part of the hon- 
or done to a pvibhc man in giving him a reception to 
provide him with an elegant horse which will do his best 
to break his neck. "Washington, Lafayette, Jackson, 
Kossuth,*had narrow escapes in this way. Virginians 
said that Washington had such power of muscle, that, 
with a good bit, he could jerk a horse back on his 
haunches. Kossuth had been so much annoyed by 
vicious but fjood-lookino; horses, that he once ventured, 
in arranging for a review, to ask of the committee " a 
quiet horsed This was instantly telegraphed over the 
comitry by the papers opposed to him as proof that he 
was a coward. 

Gen. Grant's horse became excited on his return 
from the review ; ran against a car, and injured him so 
much, that he had. to be placed on a litter. His breast- 
bone was said to have been crushed, three ribs broken, 
and he was confined to his bed for three weeks. He 
did not walk without crutches for two months. It was 
feared at one time that he Avould never be able to take 
the field again. 

As soon as he was partially recovered, he moved up 
the Mississippi on a steamer, stopping at different places 
as the public service required. On the IGth of October, 
he received at Cairo the following telegraphic despatch 
from Gen. Halleck : " You will immediately proceed 
to the Gait House, Louisville, Ky., where you will 
meet an officer of the War Department with your 
orders and instructions. You will take with you your 
staff, «&c., for imm.'diate operations in the field." 



186 Life of General Grant. 

Grant immediately started for Louisville, but was 
met at Indianapolis by Hon. Mr. Stanton, Secretary of 
War, who accompanied him on his journey. 

At the Gait House, the distinguished general attract- 
ed much notice. Among the stalwart Kentuckians was' 
one from the " rural districts," who seemed to be dis- 
appointed that he was not a giant in size. 

" Is that the great Gen. Grant ? " said he to a 
gentleman. 

" Yes, sir : that is Gen. Grant." 

" Well ! I thought he was a large man. He would 
be considered a small chance of a fighter if he lived in 
Kentucky." The Kentuckian had not learned that 
generals fight battles with their brains. 



i 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE. 



a EN. GRANT now found himself appointed to a 
department newly created, reaching from the 
Alleghanies to the Mississippi, and called the " Depart- 
ment of the Mississippi." It embraced the departments 
before known as the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the 
Tennessee. It included the States of Michio-an, 
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missis- 
sippi, Northern Alabama, and North-western Georgia. 
It contained two hundred thousand soldiers, and 
stretched a thousand miles from east to west. In 
uniting these departments under one commander, the 
government was adopting the policy which Grant liad 
always recommended, of placing the military power of 
the nation under one head, and not subdivided into 
half a dozen armies, marching and fighting each on its 
own plan. If half a dozen divisions, under half a dozen 
different generals, were to meet on any one battle-field, 
and all were to attack the enemy here and there, with- 
out plan, as the judgment of each prompted, it would 
be thought absurd, and sure to end in disaster. But 
the whole country was one battle-field : its armies were 
only divisions of one grand army, and should be sub- 
jected to one brain, and wielded by one will. 

187 



188 Life of General Grant. 

The command now tendered to Grant was the 
largest ever given to any officer. It was wortliy of 
any man's ambition : it was equal to any man's abilities. 

The national forces had met with a severe repulse at 
Chickamauga, Sept. 23, and had fallen back to Chatta- 
nooga under circumstances which caused great depres- 
sion. Grant had thought it not improbable that 
Sherman might be called to the command of the 
Army of the Cumberland ; and he had written to 
Sherman, "I- have constantly had the feeling that 
I shall lose you from this command entirely. Of 
course, I do not object to seeing your sphere of useful- 
ness enlarged, and think it should have been enlaro;ed 
long ago, having an eye to the public good alone ; but 
it needs no assurance from me, general, that taking a 
more selfish view, while I would heartily approve such 
a change, I would deeply regret it on my own 
account." 

Sherman was at Memphis when he heard that Grant 
had been ordered North ; and at once wrote him, 
" Accept the command of the great army of the 
centre : don't hesitate. By your presence at Nashville, 
you will unite all discordant elements, and impress the 
enemy in proportion. All success and honor to you I " 

There are noble things in human nature with all its 
frailties. 

The iiovernment feared that Chattanooga, which was 
short of provisions, woidd be abandoned before Gen. 
'^rant could arrive there : and he was directed to 
u - conunand at once by telegraphing to Rosecrans, 

Thomas, antl lUn-nside, which he did; the former 
being in command at Chattanooga. The country had 



Battle at TVauhatchie. 189 

yet to be studied by liim, the condition of the army to 
be learned in detail. He gathered what he could from 
maps and the full statements of Mr. Stanton. But, 
the moment his mind began to grasp the great facts, 
it is curious to see how it leaped into the work ; how 
impatient he grew to stay results until he could arrive 
in the midst of them. He was in the hotel at Louis- 
ville, Ky. At half-past eleven o'clock at night, he 
telegraphed eagerly to Gen. Thomas, " Hold Chatta- 
nooga at all hazards. I will be there as soon as pos- 
sible." How noble and how gratifying the reply which 
was immediately flashed over the wires by Thomas, " I 
will hold the town till we starve " ! 

Early the next morning, Oct. 20, Grant started by 
steam, and reached' Nashville at night. But, during 
the day, his mind had been incessantly revolving the 
affairs of his unseen command ; and he at once tele- 
graphed to Burnside, who was at Knoxville^ Tenn., in 
command of the Department of the Ohio, but in 
circumstances creating great anxiety at Washington, 
"Have you tools for fortifying? Important points in 
East Tennessee should be put in condition to be held by 
the smallest number of men as soon as possible. . . . 
I will be in Stevenson to-morrow night, and Chatta- 
nooga the next night." 

To Admiral Porter at Cairo he telegraphed, " Gen. 
Sherman's advance was at Eastport on the 15th. The 
sooner a gunboat can be got to him, the better. Boats 
must now be on the way from St. Louis with supplies 
to go up the Tennessee for Sherman." 

To Thomas, whose great difficulty of obtaining sup- 
plies he fully appreciates, he telegraphs, " Should not 



190 Life of General Grant. 

large working-parties be put upon the road between 
Bridgeport and Chattanooga at once ? " Farther on 
the road, at Bridgeport, he telegraphs to Nashville, 
" Send to the front, as speedily as possible, vegetables 
for the army. Beans and hominy are especially re- 
quired." 

Plis restless energy was overflowing wherever on the 
route he could find lightning to carry his commands. 
Every hour, every moment, was precious. It was evi- 
dently the same man at work at the telegraph-wires, 
who could not find time for three days and nights to 
take off his clothes when starting from Bruinsburg on 
his Vicksburg campaign ; whose orders were every- 
where, — in the hands of his staff, the ordnance-offi- 
cers, commissaries, corps commanders, — and were every- 
where obeyed. During the evening, both here and at 
Louisville, a large crowd gathered at the hotel, and 
called for a speech ; but he declined. He was mak- 
ing more effective speeches over tlie wires to his gen- 
erals. On his journey, he met for a few moments 
Gen. Rosecrans, whom he had pui)erseded. Rosecrans 
was polite, and gave such information as the interview 
permitted of the condition of the army. At Bridge- 
port, Grant and his staff mounted horses. The rain 
poured in floods. They made their Avay as best they 
could over roads torn up by the mountain-torrents, and 
strewed with fragments of army-wagons, dead mules 
and horses. Parts of the road were so bad, that Grant, 
who was still lame and suffering from his injuries at 
New Orleans, had to be carried by some of the soldiers 
in their arms. But by steam-power, horse-power, and 
man-power, he was constantly moving, without a mo- 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 191 

ment's rest, to the post of duty. Of such stuff, heroes 
are made. 

It was night when Gen. Grant, cold, weary, and 
hungry, reached Chattanooga, and proceeded to Gen. 
Thomas's tent. He was at fii'st scarcely recognized. 

It reminds us of a scene on the retreat of the French 
fi-om Russia. "Who are you?" said Gen. Dumas to 
an officer who suddenly entered his qiiarters, his beard 
unshaved, his face black with gunpowder. 

"Do you not know me? "was the ansAver. "lam 
the rear-guard of the Grand Army, the last man to 
leave Russia, — Marshal Ney." 

Grant came at night, without the thunders of artillery, 
and with only the members of his staff; but the army 
was re-enforced that hour with a power that was soon 
to overwhelm the enemy with irretrievable disaster. 

Gen. Thomas, whose valor well-nigh saved the day 
at Chickamauga, received his commander with the 
courtesy of the gentleman and the nobleness of the 
soldier. There had been rumors that Thomas him- 
self would be appointed to the command. He assured 
Grant he was glad the post had been given to " a suc- 
cessful man ; " and he promised him at once the most 
cordial support. 

The next morning. Grant and Thomas rode out 
together. 

Chattanooga, the Indian name for " eagle's nest," is 
situated at a bend of the Tennessee River, two hundred 
and fifty miles by water below Knoxville, near the 
corners of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennes- 
see. It is the junction of the Memphis and Charleston, 
and Richmond and Nashville Railroads, connecting with 



192 Life of General Grant. 

the chief towns of Georgia. Three miles west of the 
town is Lookout Mountain, twenty-two hundi'ed feet 
high, about a mile and a half across. West of this is 
Raccoon Mountain. Lookout River flows in the valley 
between them. South and west of Chattanooga is 
Missionary Ridge, about three miles distant, and four 
hundred feet high. It was so named because it was 
the boundary beyond wliicli the missionaries were not 
allowed to pass by the Lidians. The rebels, with their 
batteries, held all of these heights, com})letcly command- 
ing the town and plain below. It commanded the 
passage south into the cotton States. 

The Indians had determined that this valley and these 
mountains should be the outposts beyond which the 
white man sliould not carry the blessings of civilization 
and Christianity. In a similar spirit, slavery now sought 
at the same barriers to stay the great tide of freedom 
and free labor which was sweeping on to the shores of 
the Pacific. It was a position of vast natural strength 
and of untold importance to the Southern Confederacy. 

The national army, by the defeat at Chickamauga, 
had been entirely shut in, with no means of feeding 
itself except by carting supplies sixty miles over the 
mountains irom Nashville. 

The whole army was on half-rations; three thousand 
were in the hospitals ; ten thousand horses and mules 
had died around the town ; there was only ammunition 
for one battle. The men were cheerless, feeble from 
lack of food, and disheartened by recent defeat. 

Gen. Bragg, holding the route by which re-enforce- 
ments must come, felt that famine and despair were 
conquering tlie national army faster than he could by i 



I 






Battle at Wauhatchie. 193 

pitched battles. It was late in October. The ni"hts 
were cold ; and the soldiers were, many of them, Avith- 
ont overcoats and blankets. 

It was conceded that alTairs could continue thus but a 
few days longer without the ruin of the army. Grant 
determined to open the valley route to Bridgeport. lie 
ordered Gen. Hooker, who had been sent to the aid of 
Rosecrans with the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from 
the Army of the Potomac, to cross. the river at Bridge- 
port, and advance up Lookout Valley to Wauhatchie, 
threatening an attack on Bragg's flank. A force under 
Gen. Palmer was also to cross the river opposite Chat- 
tanooga, and march down the north side of the river to 
a point opposite Whitesldes, to Hooker's support. Mean- 
time, a force under Gen. W. F. Smith, of four thousand 
men, was to seize by surprise the range of hills at the 
north of Lookout Valley, which commanded a road 
from Kellcy's Ferry to Bridgeport. Thus suppHes 
could be received by steamers or by ordinary teams. 

The vast importance of obtaining control of the road 
from this ferry to Bridgeport had been proposed, ad- 
mitted, discussed, and contemplated : but it remained 
for Grant to issue orders that the work be done ; and 
this he did on the first day he arrived, after examining 
the ground. At three o'clock in the morning, on the 
27th, sixty pontoon-boats, each containing thirty men, 
floated quietly out from Chattanooga. They were 
under command of Brig.-Gen. Hazen. 

They had nine miles to pass, in seven of which they 

would be exposed to the fire of the rebel pickets. But 

the night was very dark, the current swift, rendering 

oars less necessary ; and, by hugging the northern shore 

13 



194 Life op General Grant. 

of the rircr, they hoped to pass without discovery. 
Secrecy and surprise were important to the success of 
the undertaking ; because, if tlie enemy had time to 
concentrate, it would be ahnost impossible, from the 
nature of the ground, for our men to attack success- 
fully. The boats floated as silently down the river as 
the boats of ^Volfe n-lided down the St. La^vrence to the 
Heights of Abraham. Kot a man spoke, not a gunlock 
clicked, not an oar was stirred ; but every eye was 
strained to the mountain-side in the distance. As the 
men came nearer, the rebel camp-fires could be seen 
blazing flir up m the darkness ; and now and then the 
rebel pickets were heard singing, " Way down in 
Dixie ! " They rounded the foot of the mountain, 
touched the south side of the river at Crown's Ferry, 
leaped ashore, surprised a rebel picket, rushed up the 
steep, slippery ridge, three hundred feet high ; and the 
first point was gained. 

Another portion of Smith's force had crossed at 
Brown's FeiTy, moved down the nortli bank of the 
river ; and by five o'clock the whole command were so 
securely placed, that only a very large force could 
drive them out. The men who had crossed at Brown's 
Ferry began constructing a bridge ; and by ten o'clock 
an excellent pontoon-bridge was in working-order, and 
artillery were placed to cunnnand the roads around the 
base of the mountain to the enemy's camps on the 
other side. Supplies could now be brought from 
Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry without trouble. 

Hooker had crossed the Tennessee at Bridgeport, 
accomjiaiiit'd bv Gcu. Howard and Brig. -Gen. Geary, 
and marched alouif the luie of the Nashville and Chat- 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 195 

tan ooga Railroad to Wauhatchie, — a small station on 
this road in Lookout Valley, about twelve miles from' 
Chattanooga. He drove the rebel pickets In, meeting 
no serious opposition. He had with him about seven 
thousand men. At niglit, the advance with Howard 
halted near BroAvn's Ferry. Geary's smaller portion 
of the force was at "Wauhatchie, some three miles 
distant, to hold the road up the valley from Kelley's 
Ferry. The rebels had seen the day's proceedings 
from the heights, and unde stood their import , but were 
not strong enough there to descend, and encounter the 
whole force. A division of Longstreet's celebrated 
corps was there ; and It was determined that they 
should attack Geary at one o'clock at night with supe- 
rior numbers, trusting to the terrors of a night-assault, 
in an unknown region, to destroy him. 

But they were bravely met. Howard hurried down 
his nearest division to Geary's support ; and the enemy 
found, after a desperate fight of two or three hours, 
that the Union troops had coriie to stay. In the dark- 
ness and confusion, some of the mules from the army- 
wagons broke loose, and ran pell-mell toward the 
enemy, who at first thought It a charge of cavalry ; 
creating a panic, and increasing the confusion Insepara- 
ble, to some extent, from a night-assault. 

By four o'clock the enemy withdrew, leaving one 
hundred arid fifty-thi'ee dead. 

The sun did not more surely lift the fogs from the 
valleys around Chattanooga than did Grant's genius 
lift the clouds of gloom from the national army. In 
five days after his arrival, steamers, loaded with food, 
clothing, blankets, shoes, were plying on the Tennessee 



196 Life of General Grant. 

from Bridgeport to Kellcy's Ferry. Horses, forage, 
and ammunition were forwarded to Chattanooiia, full 
rations were issued to the half-starved troops, all was 
changed ; in a word, it was hope, courage, and well- 
fed soldiers, in place of starvation and despair. From 
being, as Bragg expressed it, " at the mercy of the 
rebel force," this despondent army were now becoming 
the assailants. 

When llosecrans was removed, the rebels sneered at 
the appointment of Grant to the command at Chatta- 
nooga, and said, " The Federals have taken away one 
general" [Rosecrans], "and put two fools" [Grant 
and Thomas] " in his place." Some one at this time 
showed the rebel paper containing this attempt at wit to 
Mr. Lincoln. lie was "reminded of the story" of the 
Irishman, who, Avhen buying a cooking-stove, being told, 
" This one stove will save half your fuel," answered, 
*' Faith, then I'll take two stoves, and save the whole!" 
He said, " If one fool like Grant can win such victo- 
ries, and accomplish what he has, I don't object to two ; 
for they will certainly wipe out the rest of this Rebel- 
lion." 

At this time, " The Richmond Enquirer" thought 
the movements at Chattanooga were not such as they 
should be on the part of Gen. Bragg. It said, " The 
enemy were out-fought at Chickamauga ; (thanks to 
the army !) but the present position of affairs looks 
as thoun;h we had been out-2;encraled at Chattanooo;a." 
By no means an unwise conclusion. The people in the 
mountains of East Tennessee, of Northern Georgia 
and North Carolina, with Northern Alabama, had 
never imbibed the poison of treason. Like mountain- 



Battle at Wauhatciiie. 197 

eers the world over, they loved freedom, and were 
inured to hardy toil. Their mountain-fastnesses were 
not fit homes for slaves. It has not been the sterile 
mountain-passes clad with snow and ice, but the warm 
and fertile plains covered with waving and golden har- 
vests, and flowing with oil and wine, which in all ages 
have invited and yielded to the arms of invasion. 

The sufferinirs of the noble Union men in these 
regions, especially in Tennessee, had deeply moved the 
hearts of the North. They had been thrown into 
filthy prisons ; they had been hung and shot ; tied to 
logs, and whipped to death ; their houses plundered, 
and burned over their heads ; husbands murdered 
before their wives and children ; or, escaping this, they 
had fled to caves to die by starvation, or be fed by the 
hand of charity. These persecutions were continued 
in every form that the "barbarism of slavery" could 
devise to drive the people into support of the Rebellion, 
and fill the rebel armies ; but all without avail. 

Gen. Grant determined that this style of warfare 
should cease ; and he issued orders, that, — 

" For every act of violence to the person of an unarmed Union 
citizen, a secessionist will be arrested, and held as hostage for the 
delivery of the olFender. For every dollar's worth of property 
taken from such citizens, or destroyed by raiders, an assessment 
■will be made upon secessionists of the neighborhood, and collected 
by the nearest military forces, under the supervision of the com- 
mander thereof; and the amount thus collected paid over to the 
suiferers. ^\'hen such assessments cannot be collected in money, 
property useful to the government may be taken at a fxir valua- 
tion, and the amount paid in money by a disbursing officer of the 
government, who will take such pi'operty uj)on his returns. 
Wealthy secession citizens will be assessed in money and pro- 



198 Life of General Grant. 

visions for the support of Union refugees who have been or may be 
driven from thi'ir homes ami into our lines by the aets of those 
Avith whom secession citizens are in sympathy. All collections 
and payments under this order will be made through the disburs- 
ing ofhcers of the government, whose accounts must show all 
money and property received under it, and how disposed of. 

" By order of Major-Gen. U. S. GuANT." 

Gen. Grant's orders were not mere paper-orders to 
be read and forgotten, but were rigidly and strictly 
enforced. 

Gen. Bvirnside, with twenty-five thousand men, was 
at Knoxville, short of rations and ammunition, and with 
no means of obtaining any without great delays and 
through long and circuitous routes. 

His situation excited great anxiety at Washington, 
and the authorities were constantly urging Grant to 
" relieve Burnside ; " but how to do so was the prob- 
lem. Burnside himself was least concerned of all about 
his safety. 

On the 3d of November, Bragg determined to send 
twenty thousand men under Longstreet to "drive Burn- 
side out of East Tennessee, or, better, to capture or 
destroy him." He took with him eighty guns. They 
did not start till the loth. 

Grant had foreseen a movement of this nature, and 
hud telegraphed his apprehensions to Burnside some 
time before. 

Grant ord^-red an attack to be made on Bragg's 
positions at Missionary Ridge, as a diversion in favor of 
Burnside, and to bring Longstreet back : but it was 
ascertained by Gen. Thomas that he had no horses to 
move his artillery ; and the condition of his army was 



I 
I 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 199 

not equal to so hazardous a movement ; and he so 
reported. 

Burnside was so isolated, and the means of communi- 
cation so slow, that many evils were dreaded in his 
behalf, which a more rapid communication would have 
shown to be groundless. 

Sherman was on his way from Memphis with the 
Fifteenth Army Corps ; but he was to march four hun- 
dred miles across the country. It is a long journey 
from the Mississippi River to Chattanooga, when you 
make the distance on foot, step by step. There is 
nothing to be done, therefore, but for Burnside to hold 
on and hold out till Sherman's force can re-enforce 
Grant. But how hard for Grant to wait ! Every day 
seems a week. 

Bragg has reduced his strength to attack Burnside. 
If Grant could only now attack Bragg, he could defeat 
him, and then follow and defeat Longstreet. The con- 
templation of all these facts and possibilities stirs him to 
even unwonted activity in all directions. To Sherman 
he telegraphed as early as Oct. 24, the day after he 
arrived at Chattanooga, "Drop every thing east of 
Bear Creek, and remove with your entire force towards 
Stevenson until you receive further orders. The 
enemy are evidently moving a large force towards 
Cleveland, and may break through our lines, and move 
on Nashville ; in which event, your troops are the only 
forces at command that could beat them there." 

This was sent by a courier, who floated down the 
river, to Tuscumbia ; and from there was sent to Sher- 
man at luka. 

Gen. Grant watched his march almost every hour 



200 Life op General Grant. 

after this until his arrival ; studying his route, anticipat- 
ino- and providing for the wants of his men, step by 
step. On the 7th he telegraphs, " Gen. Sherman will 
reach Fayetteville to-morrow without any thing to cat. 
See the shipping commissary, and direct him to secure 
transportation, and send one hundred thousand rations 
to-morrow morning." 

Sherman was marching, fighting, and toiling on 
through the soft, glutinous roads, his teams often slump- 
ing in to their hubs ; climbing mountains ; fording 
streams ; straining every nerve to reach his chief. 

Meantime Grant is building bridges, repairing rail- 
roads, refitting steamboats, and watching over four 
armies, — three of his own, and one of the eijemy. To 
Thomas he sent word, " The steamer ' Point of Rocks ' 
should by all means be got down to Brown's Ferry 
before morning, even if a house has to be torn down to 
get the necessary fuel." 

To his adjutant-general at Nashville, in regard to 
the forwarding of supplies, he telegra})hs, " Make any 
order necessary to secure the result in the promptest 
manner." To another he says, " Make contracts with 
different bridge-builders, so as to get this work done in 
the shortest jjossible time. Extra bridges should also 
be in readiness at all times to replace any that may be 
destroyed. Keep me advised of what you do in this 
matter." 

But day after day passes, and Grant suffers the most 
intense anxiety to attack Bragg before Longstreet re- 
turns. Every hour, he can see the lofty summit of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, and his eagerness to advance is consum- 
ing in its fervor ; every hour, Longstreet may return ; 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 201 

every hour he hopes for Sherman's corps. But four 
hundred miles are just as long when in our impatience 
we would annihilate distance as when we move reluc- 
tantly to some undesired goal. 

But such desire leaves its mark. " If I should die 
to-day," Avrote Nelson to the admiralty, " ' Want of 
frigates ' would be found engraven on my heart." 

As Sherman approaches nearer to Chattanooga, 
Grant's solicitude increases. He is picking out the 
best roads, and would doubtless level all the hills and 
fill up the valleys to make smooth travelling, and bring 
in his army in fine condition. On the 10th he writes, 
" I learn that by the way of New Market and Mays- 
ville you will avoid the heavy mountains, and find 
abundance of forage. If a part of your command is 
now at Winchester, and a part back, that portion behind 
had better be turned on the New-market route." 

The preparations, which had been made on a gigantic 
scale, were about completed, and the drama was soon to 
open. The numbers to be engaged in the coming 
battle, the transcendent interests involved, the natural 
grandeur of the scene of the great contest, would for- 
ever render it one of the most memorable battles m the 
annals of our country. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA. 

/^ EN. GRANT'S department was truly an im- 
Vl7~ perial domain. As we have seen, it included 
ten States, covering nearly half a million square miles, 
and comprised more than eleven millions of ])eo])le. It 
stretched from Lake Superior to Louisiana, and from 
Pennsylvania to the Valley of the Mississippi. It is not 
an exaggeration to say, that, during this time, there was 
scarcely a corner of this vast region, which, directly or 
indirectly, was not stirred by the preparations of the 
campaign. The cattle on a thousand hills were moving 
to feed the army ; a million hands were at work to 
clothe it, furnaces glowed by night and day. The 
railroads from Lake Erie to Natchez toiled hourly with 
their enormous labor. The Mississippi, the Ohio, the 
Tennessee, the Cumberland Rivers, were crowded with 
fleets of steamers loaded with all the nuniitions of war ; 
and tens of thousands of soldiers, avIio were to decide 
the contest, were winding in long lines over mountain 
and plain, but all marching to the field of glory or tlie 
grave of honor. 

And the man whose active brain and indomitable will 
are organizing and directing this vast and complicated 

202 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 203 

machineiy is apparently all unconscious of his power. 
He looks sober ; talks but little to any one. Not yet 
recovered from his recent accident, he limps around 
Chattanooga, smoking a brier- wood pipe, wearing a 
blouse and slouched hat. He often rides off to study 
the country, taking one or two of his staff with him ; 
but with no plumed troops, and flying pennons, and 
gorgeous pageantry of war. But the inexorable will, 
the fixed purpose to do or die, are all there. 

Sherman arrived at Chattanooga on the morning of 
the 15th in advance of his column, having reached 
Bridgeport the night previous. Grant, Sherman, and 
Thomas rode out on the high ground on the north 
of the Tennessee, whence the tents of the enemy and 
the whole theatre of operations were in full view, — "a 
mighty amphitheatre, where the actors were nearly 
ready to assume their parts, with distant mountains for 
spectators ; wdiile cloud-capped hills, and valleys 
slu-ouded in mist that was lifted to display the move- 
ments of armies, formed the stage." * 

It was indeed a vast natural colosseum. Europe 
does not offer so grand a battle-field from Gibraltar to 
Moscow. It resembled more those granite gates of 
Greece of which fame has told us for two thousand 
years, where Leonidas and the three hundred sons 
of Sparta waited all night to offer up their Hves with 
the morning's sun. 

Here Sherman was shown the eastern extremity of 
Missionary Ridge, which he was to attack. He entered 
at once with enthusiasm into all Grant's plans, and, the 

* Badeau. 



204 Life of General Grant. 

same niglit, returned to Bridgeport to hurry up liis 
troops ; himself rowing a boat, in his impatience, down 
from Kelley's Ferry. 

It was thought that Sherman's force could be brought 
up and put in position for battle by the 20th, and Grant 
gave orders to attack on the 21st ; but the condition of 
the army after such a march, heavy rains, and the 
terrible state of the roads, rendered it impossible to be 
prepared before the 23d. 

On the 20th, Gen. Bragg treated himself to the 
following sublimely impudent epistle to Gen. Grant: 
" General, as there may still be some non-combatants 
in Chattanooga, I deem it proper to notify you that 
prudence would dictate their early withdrawal." When 
Grant read this, he was convinced that Bragg felt that 
" prudence dictated his own early withdrawal." His 
suspicions were soon after confirmed by the statements 
of a deserter. 

It was Grant's purj-ose to give Bragg the impression 
that Sherman's force was to be massed on his left ; but 
in reality they were to attack on his right. As fast as 
they arrived, therefore, they were advanced to White- 
sides, where they were pushed behind the hills, out of 
the enemy's sight, to our left ; but the camp-fires were 
kept burning, and eveiy art used to induce the belief 
that they were gathered where they first rested. They 
were constantly marching from Brown's Ferry, where 
they were seen by the enemy, up the river back of the 
hills, to a concealed camp. Once behind the hills, it 
was impossible for the enemy to know whether they 
had inarclKd to Kiioxville to relieve Burnside, or were 
still held on the north of the river. From this place 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 205 

ol'.erman's force was to emerge, lay a pontoon-bridge 
across tlie Tennessee, and attack Bragg's right. 

At noon on the 23d, Gen. Granger with the Fourth 
Corps advanced from our centre, held by Gen. Thomas, 
to ascertain the enemy's strength- at this point. How- 
ard's corps was formed in mass behind Granger, 
Sheridan's division on the right, and Woods's on the 
left. 

It was a splendid day; and the different divisions 
marched into position with the steadiness and precision 
of a grand review, which the rebels at first supposed it 
to be. They looked at the evolutions from the lofty 
heio-hts of Missionary RIdo;e, and said, in sneerino; allu- 
sion to Hooker's men who had come from the Potomac, 
" Now we shall have a Potomac parade." They con- 
sidered the Army of the Potomac excellent at drilling, 
but poor at fighting. 

From the national line to the rebel rifle-pits was 
about a mile. The highest point for observation was 
Fort Wood, near our centre ; and here Grant took his 
position with Gen. Thomas. The troops moved over 
the ground in grand style, drove in the enemy's pick- 
ets, and captured the first line of rifle-pits and two hun- 
dred prisoners. Our line now included a mound named 
" Orchard Knoll," which had been a redoubt of the 
rebel outer line. The troops began intrenching at 
once. About five o'clock, the enemy opened a furious 
discharge of shells, which was continvied for some time 
without producing great effect. During the night, 
cannon were put in position, and our line greatly 
strengthened. The effect on the troops, of the after- 
noon's work, was inspiring. They had fought under 



206 Life op General Grant. 

the eye of the liero of Donelson and Cliamplon's Hill 
and Vicksburg for the first time ; and here thej were, 
their flags a mile in advance of the old line. 

They felt confident they should carry the summit 
whenever the order came to advance. The old 
Army of the Cumberland was itself again. 

They w^ere no longer starving, defeated men, but 
victorious soldiers. Grant had trusted them, took his 
stand with them ; and they were proud to show him 
they were worthy of their leader. They no longer 
thought of Chickamauga, except to avenge it. 

North ChickamaujTa Creek enters the Tennessee 
about five miles above the point on the river opposite, 
and in front of the hills behind which Sherman lay 
concealed. Here a hundred and sixteen pontoons were 
hidden with which to float down a portion of Sherman's 
men to land on the south side of the river, and coni- 
mence the bridge on which Sherman's army was to 
cross. Seven hundred and fifty picked oarsmen were 
marched around behind the curtain of hills with 
Smith's brigade during the night of the 23d. By 
twelve o'clock at night, nearly three thousand five 
hundred soldiers were passing down the river so 
silently, that even our own pickets on the north bank 
of the river did not discover them. 

Before daylight, they jumped ashore where Sherman's 
bridge was to be thrown across, and captured the enemy's 
astonished pickets before they fairly understood what hud 
happened. The pontoons were sent back to be filled again, 
and returned. By daylight, Gen. Bragg found eight 
thousand men, well protected, puttmg a bridge over the 
river iii front of his right, the northern end of Mission- 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 207 

aiy Ridoe. Opposite, another large force were at work 
in a similar manner. Cannon on both sides opened 
their fire ; but the men worked as if nothing could stop 
them. At the same time, boats were crossing the river, 
which is here about fourteen hundred feet wide, each 
carrying about forty soldiers, and landing them on the 
southern side of the Tennessee. It is evident to Brao;o; 
that Sherman is to attack here. This was not expected ; 
but it is too late now to prevent it. 

Howard with three regiments had marched up the 
south bank of the river from Chattanooga ; and now 
both ends of the bridge are rapidly building, and the 
intervening space is growing smaller and smaller. By 
twelve o'clock, the bridge is nearly completed. Sher- 
man is impatient, and advances on the northern side, 
almost plank by plank, animating and directing the 
men, who work incessantly : he wears a long India- 
1-ubber over-coat, and is talking and gesturing. The 
space is narrowing. Howard has advanced from the 
other side, and introduced himself to Sherman across 
the httle gulf. The gap is filled ; and Sherman jumps 
across, and seizes Howard by the hand. 

By one o'clock, men, horses, artillery, and cavalry 
in large numbers, were over, and were formed in 
three columns in echelon ; the left under M. L. Smith, 
the centre under J. E. Smith, and the right under 
Ewino;. 

Sherman stands on a little mound, with his generals 
around, trying to light a cigar in the rain, when he 
quietly gives the order to advance. Grant is with 
Thomas in the centre, where the principal attack is to 
be made ; and Hooker is at Lookout Mountain, thirteen 



208 Life of General Grant. 

miles from Sherman : but all are on tlie same battle- 
field, caiTjing out one plan. 

Sherman fought his way steadily up ; and by half-past 
three he had secured the heights at the north end of 
Missionary Ridge, called " Tunnel Hill." The enemy 
tried to drive him out with artillery ; but he threw up 
breastworks, dragged guns up the heights, and threw up 
intrenchments. Heavy mists from the river concealed 
him from view, until during the night it grew cold, the 
air cleared, and his camp-fires were seen stretching 
around toward Thomas, and holding the coveted posi- 
tion. 

Meanwhile, Hooker with fiery valor had assaulted 
Lookout Mountain. The mountain did not slope grad- 
ually from base to summit ; but the first twenty-five or 
thirty feet were abrupt palisades. There were but two 
routes, — one a trail or footpath, the other a crooked 
road on the cast side of the mountain. Hooker chose 
the road. Half-way up, the rebels had a fine of earth- 
works, and rifle-pits in front of these. 

A portion of his force, under Geary, advanced up the 
Valley of the Lookout, threw a bridge over Lookout 
Creek, and swept around the north side of the moun- 
tain ; while another column attacked from the south and 
west side, pressing their way through the forests, and 
climbing cliffs, as best they could. 

The enemy had l)een so attentively studying bridge- 
building as practised by Gen. Geary, that the advance 
of the colunni on the south-west was a surprise. 
Our batteries and those of the rebels kept up a terrific 
cannonade, and shrouded the whole hill in clouds of 
smoke. The enemy, taken in flank and rear, driven 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 209 

from their earthworks, kept up their fire from behind 
rocks and trees, but everywliere gave way. Prisoners 
were taken in large squads, who were found to be men 
who were paroled at Vicksburg, and had not been 
exchanged, though they had been so told by their 
officers. 

By two o'clock, the clouds and darkness on the moun- 
tain caused a cessation of the battle to some extent. 
To those below, the flashes of fire, the thunder of the 
artillery, the rolling clouds of smoke, recalled the de- 
scriptions given of Mount Sinai of old, when " the 
smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, 
and the whole mount quaked greatly." The loud 
cheers of our troops, sounding to their comrades in 
the valley to come from the skies, told that the height 
was won. By four o'clock, Hooker reported to Grant 
his success. At half-past five. Grant ordered Brig.- 
Gen. Carlin of the Fourteenth Corps to cross Chatta- 
nooga Creek, and join Hooker on the left. 

The rebels gradually Avithdrew to concentrate on 
Missionary Ridge ; leaving twenty thousand rations, and 
camp-equipages for three brigades. 

At six o'clock. Grant telegraphed in modest terms to 

Washington, " The fight to-day progressed favorably. 

Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridge ; and his 

right is now at the tunnel, and left at Chickamauga 

Creek. Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point 

of the mountain, and now hold the eastern point and 

slope high up. Hooker reports two thousand prisoners 

taken, besides which a small number have fallen into 

our hands from Missionary Ridge." 

The President repHed, " Your despatches as to fight- 
u 



210 Life of General *G rant. 

ing on jMonday and Tuesday are here. Well done ! 
Thanks to all. Remember IJurnside." 

Bv midni'dit the buiiles were mute, the soldiers were 
sleeping, and the sentinels paced their weary round ; but 
there was no rest for their commander, who was busy- 
despatching ills orders for the next day's battle. 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

a RANT was not a general who issued orders for a 
battle of two or three days' continuance, and 
then looked on to see it carried out, and was discon- 
certed and defeated if the progTamme was interfered 
with. He fouo-ht the battle, and issued orders as the 
battle developed. He fought his battles by military 
rules ; but he applied the rules as the exigencies 
changed on the field. No two battles are alike ; and 
his staff said it was not his habit to discuss tlie details 
and muse over the evolutions of celebrated battles, and 
speculate on what might have been if this had been so, 
and that had been otherwise. 

When the board was ready and the pieces placed, he 
played to win, as his own position and that of the enemy 
appeared to require. When the sun rose on the morn- 
ing of the 2oth, the whole scene was spread out like a 
map. At the extreme right, on the lofty summit of 
Lookout Mountain, the national flag was seen flying, 
having been raised by the Eighth Kentucky Volunteers. 
In front was Missionary Ridge, four hundred feet high, 
seven miles long, where the rebel hosts, numbering 
forty-five thousand men, were now united. In the 
centre, Bragg's headquarters were plainly seen ; far off 

211 



212 Life of General Grant. 

on the left, Sherman's drams were heard on the crests 
he had won the afternoon before. Trees, houses, 
fences, had all been removed ; and the field was clear 
for the day's great work. 

Grant, with Thomas and some of his division gener- 
als, was on Orchard Knoll, the highest point of observa- 
tion along the Union hnes. Hooker had descended from 
Lookout Mountain, crossed the valley, and was at the 
south end of Missionary Ridge. 

Grant's plan was to attack the enemy on both flanks 
until he was compelled to weaken his centre to support 
them ; when the centre was to be broken, and the ridge 
carried. 

The eminence which Sherman had carried was not 
continuous with the whole ridge ; but ravines and 
gorges intervened, and each was strongly fortified 
and defended, — those behind rising above those in 
front, and affording a chance for the rebel artillery to 
play upon our advancing columns with great effect. 
Sherman had been in his saddle since daylight. It was 
now sunrise. The men were quiet : some of them were 
writing little notes in their diaries, and replacing them 
in their pockets, thinking, perhaps, they would, before 'I 
night, be read by other eyes than theirs. The bugles 
sound the advance ; and Gen. Corse, Gen. Morgan L. 
Smith, and Col. Smith, with their brigades, move on. 
The Fortieth Illinois, and the Twentieth and Forty-sixth 
Ohio, march down the slope, and up to within eighty 
yards of the rebel iiitrenchmcnts. The fighting is very 
severe ; hand to hand it is maintained, now advancing, 
and now recedinii a little. The fire of the rebel artil- 
lery is mm'derous with grape and canister ; the blood 



I 



Battle of Missionary Ridge. 213 

flows in torrents : our soldiers charged up to within 
pistol-shot of the rebel works; but, in the main, each 
party held its position. But Sherman's attack threat- 
ens Bragg's rear, and must be repulsed, or all is lost. 
He orders first one column and then another from his 
centre to repel Sherman ; but Sherman is not to be 
driven off, if he cannot advance against great odds. 
Still more troops move oflF to the left of Bragg. 

Grant saw all this with eagle eye as he watched the 
movements of the enemy. Thomas's four divisions, 
who were with him in the centre, had been impatiently 
waiting all day for orders to "go in ; " and now the 
moment had come. 

Sheridan (then fighting for the first time under 
Grant's eye), Johnson, Baird, and Wood were ordered 
to advance to the enemy's rifle-pits, clear them, then 
re-form, and ascend the ridge. It was about nine hun- 
dred yards to the rebel rifle-pits ; and there was not 
an inch of the ground that was not swept by the artil- 
lery from the ridge. 

But the men moved steadily without firing a gun, 
then dashed on at the double-quick ; and the rifle-pits 
were carried. Some of the rebels threw themselves 
down and surrendered as the line approached ; others 
fled up the hill. Sheridan said he " happened to be in 
advance ; " and, as he looked back at the twenty thou- 
sand gleaming bayonets, he was impressed by the sight 
of their terrible power. The rebels could not resist 
the effect on their imagination ; and many surrendered 
at once. A thousand prisoners were captured, and 
hurried to the rear. The men could not now be 
halted to re-form as had been agreed ; but along the 



214 Life of General Geant. 

■whole line the loud shouts of triumph rang out, and 
on thcj pressed up the hill crowned with cannon and 
crowded with rifles. The rebels loaded their guns with 
canister and grape. But our troops clung to the hill, 
sometimes lying on their faces to let the storm drive 
over them, and swarmed up the hill. The flags con- 
stantly advancing, first one and then another, up tliey 
went through that storm of death. 

The whole ridge seems heaving with volcanic fires. 

" From peak to peak, tlie rattling crags among, 
Leaps the live tliunder." 

Balrd, Wood, Granger, Johnson, are everywhere 
active and cool. Color-beurers fall ; but on go the flags. 
The men press steadily tiiiougl: the sheet of flame. 
Bullets are as thick as snow-llakes in a winter storm. 
The rebels light fuses, and roll shells down the hill : 
they hurl rocks even, and load their guns with liandi'uls 
of cartridges in their hurry. But nothing breaks the 
line of blue-coats : they swarm up ; the flags still ascend. 
There is a lonii, loud cheer from thousands of victorious 
men : the ridge is won. 

For a few minutes, the bloody struggle continues 
between the masses of Infuriated troops. Artillerists 
are bayoneted at their guns, and the guns turned on the 
retreating foe. AVhole regiments surrender : others 
flinn- themselves down the mountain-side, foflowed by 
clouds of rifle-bullets. The rebel centre Is broken; 
the wings are doubhng up in confusion ; the victory Is 
complete. It had only been a march of fifty-five min- 
utes j but in those minutes thousands of heroic men had 
taken their last, long march to the realms of death. 



Battle of Missionary Ridge. 215 

" On Fame's eternal camping-ground 
Their silent tents are spread ; 
And Glory guards with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 

Gen. Grant, who had been under fire all day, was 
now recognized on the hill ; and the men greeted him 
with loud cheers wherever he moved. 

Bragg, powerless to resist, was retiring, probably in 
the spirit of his note to Grant, — that " prudence required 
non-combatants to leave." He was astonished. " It 
was a position," he said, " which a line of skirmishers 
ought to have maintained against any assault." 

The German soldiers engaged fought with the steadi- 
ness and courage with which their race, battling for 
fatherland, conquered Napoleon at Leipsic, and drove 
his victorious legions beyond the banks of the Rhine. 

Grant captured over six thousand prisoners, forty 
pieces of artillery, and seven thousand stand of arms, — 
the largest capture which had been made on any open 
field dm-ino- the war. Our loss in killed and wounded 
was five thousand. 

At seven o'clock in the evening. Gen. Grant sent the 
following modest despatch to Washington, making no 
mention of himself in any manner : — 

Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this 
eveniuo-, I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete 
victory over Bragg. Lookout-mountain top, all the rifle-pits in 
Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have been 
carried, and are now held by us. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

Gen. Meigs, the Quarter-Master-General of the 
Fnlted-States army, who was at Chattanooga at this 



216 Life of General Grant. 

time, and an eye-witness of the battle, -wrote a full 
account of these military operations to Gen. Halleck, 
in which he said, " Probably not so well-directed, so 
w^ell-ordered a battle has taken place during the war. 
Kentucky and Tennessee are rescued ; Georgia and 
the South-east are threatened in the rear ; and another 
victory is added to the chapter of ' unconditional-sur- 
render Grant.'' " The victory was worthy of such 
announcement. Jefferson Davis was a very vain man ; 
and, when a great battle was about to be fought, he 
would hurry to the scene of the contest, and interfere 
with the plans of his generals. If a victory ensued, he 
claimed it as the result of his advice ; if a defeat, he 
alleged it was because he could not remain and person- 
ally direct the carrying-out of his plans. 

Only a few weeks before the great battle at Chatta- 
nooga, he stood on the lofty summit of Missionary 
Ridge, and surveyed the field of the impending contest, 
with Generals Bragg and Pemberton. 

As he looked down on the Union camps in the 
valley, he said exultingly, " The Federals are in just 
the trap I set for them. The green fields of Tennessee 
will soon be ours." 

Gen. Pemberton, whose remembrance of Vicksburg 
was still fresh, replied, '' Mr. Davis, you are command- 
er-in-chief, and, of course, will direct as you judge best. 
I have been blamed for not attacking the enehiy when 
they were drawing around me at Vicksburg ; but do 
you order an attack on these troops now, and, my life 
on it, not a single man will ever come back over 
the valley, except as a prisoner." But Davis predicted 
only comiuest. The reader of sacred history will be 



Battle op Missionary Ridge. 217 

reminded of another arch-rebel, who once ascended 
" an exceeding high mountain," and promised domin- 
ion and power over broad regions he did not possess, 
and never conquered. A high rock from which the 
Confederate President addressed the troops has since 
been called " The Devil's Pulpit." 



CHAPTER XXL 



THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD. 



IT was not Gen. Grant's disposition to rest satisfied 
witli the first-fruits of victory ; and Slieridan was 
ordered to pursue the retreating enemy, which he did 
witli such vigor, that Bragg barely escaped captiu'e 
with his whole statf. 

About a mile in the rear of the battle-field was a hill, 
on which the rebels planted a formidable battery, and 
endeavored to rally their broken cohunns ; but Sheridan 
and his men charged with the same bayonets and the 
same impetuosity which had carried them u}) the 
heights of Missionary Ridge. 

" It was now dark ; and, just as the head of one of 
these colunuis reached the sunnnit of the hill, the moon 
rose from behind, and a medallion view of the column 
was disclosed as it crossed the disk of the moon and 
attacked the enemy. Outflanked on right and left, 
the rebels fled, leaving the coveted artillery and trains. 
Those who escajK'd capture were driven across Ciiicka- 
niauiia Creek, where they burned the brid<fes almost 
while they passed." * 

Early the next morning, the army pushed on to 
destroy the enemy, and to relieve Bui'uside at Kuox- 

* Badcau. 
218 



Battle of Ringgold. 219 

ville, — an object now of the first importance. Sher- 
man's force advanced toward Chickamauga, and Hooker 
and Pahner moved toward Ringgold. Gen. Grant was 
at the front, directing the pursuing columns. At eleven 
o'clock, our advance was at Chickflmauga Dep8t. Here 
was witnessed a scene such as is only found in war. 
The station was in flames, and the vast stores of the 
enemy had been fired. Corn, bacon, gun-carriages, 
cheeses, pork, flour, molasses, powder, sugar, broken 
muskets, and pontoon-trains, — everything used in an 
army, — had been given up by the enemy, who had not 
time to complete their destruction. Large and valuable 
captures of stores were made by our forces. Among 
them, one pontoon-train of fifteen boats, twenty army- 
wagons, sixty thousand rations of corn, fifty thousand 
of corn-meal, two sixty-four-pounder rifled siege-guns, 
one thousand pounds of bacon, six forges, some ord- 
nance-stores, artillery and small-arm ammunition. The 
rebel loss by fire alone amounted to fifty thousand dol- 
lars' worth of property. 

All day long, the pursuit was continued. " Tramp, 
tramp, trump, the boys were marching ; " and every- 
where were the evidences of a defeated and routed 
army. Guns and ammunition thrown away, abandoned 
ambulances, tents, wagons, caissons, strewed along the 
road, told of the hurried flight. The rebel camps of the 
previous night were passed, the bivouac-fires still blazing. 

Just at night, a sharp engagement took place between 
the rear-guard of the enemy and the advanced guard 
of our forces, in which the enemy gave way, and our 
army bivouacked for the night. 

Ringgold, a small place of twenty-five hundred 



220 Life of General Grant. 

inliaLitants, — the county-seat of Catoosa County, 
Ga., — was five miles distant. It is situated at the 
base of tlie Wliite-oak-mountain ridge. In tlie rear 
of the town is a gap, or gorge, aLout a hundred yards 
wide, wMtli abrupt ridges on both sides rising five 
hundred feet high, and half a niile or more in length. 
Artillery planted on these ridges completely commanded 
the pass, and, manned by even a few hundred men, 
covild hold an army of thousands. 

The enemy seized upon the natural advantages of 
this place, and determined to make here a desperate 
stand. The forests which fringed the ridges were filled 
with sharpshooters and four thousand of the enemy, 
disposed in a manner to offer a most effective resistance. 

Our guns were not yet up ; but our men were flushed 
with victory, and impatient of delay : and, soon after 
eight o'clock, Gen. Ilooker ordered an attack by Oster- 
liaus, who led the advance, followed by Geary and 
Craft. 

The troops advanced with determined bravery ; but 
the enemy opened with musketiy, and poured shot and 
shell from the ridges above them. After a time, our 
men were compelled to fall back. The enemy, sm'prised 
and delighted with their success, followed with great 
ardor. Several attempts were made to carry the i)osi- 
tion, l)Ut in vain. It was too strong to be carried with- 
out artillery ; but the men were unwilling to be delayed 
even for a few hours by an enemy so recently beaten, 
and fought with reckless gallantry. The Thirteenth 
Illinois was specially distinguished for its bravery ; and 
the Seventh Ohio lost all its officers, coming out of 
action under command of a lieutenant. 



Battle of Ringgold. 221 

But our men were being slaughtered without gaming 
adequate advantage ; and it was decided to wait the 
arrival of the artillery, which had not been able to cross 
the west fork of the Chichamauga. 

About twelve o'clock, a section of howitzers was 
brought to bear on the enemy in the gap ; artillery 
were sent to the southern side of the river ; and Grant 
sent orders to Sherman to place a force on the east side 
of the ridge, and turn his position. But the artillery 
had done the work. The guns told with terrible effect. 
Osterliaus and Geary again advanced ; and, before one 
o'clock, the rebels had taken up the line of retreat. 

They were quickly followed, and three pieces of 
artillery, and two hundred and thirty jnnsoners, cap- 
tured. One hundred and thirty rebels were found 
dead on the field. Our loss was sixty-five killed, and 
three hundred and seventy-seven wounded. 

The railroad at Ringgold was destroyed ; mills and 
military materials of various kinds ; also a large tan- 
nery, wdiich was not likely to escape Grant's eye. 

Hooker followed the enemy toward Dal ton, Ga., for 
several miles, but only to find pictures of the unwritten 
miseries of war, — wounded and dying men, broken 
Avagons, caissons, and corpses, lining the roads where 
the enemy marched. 

The pursuit would have been continued, but for 
Grant's solicitude, which never ceased, to relieve Burn- 
side at Knoxville. 

To Thomas he wrote, " Direct Granger to start at 
once, marching as rapidly as possible, to the relief of 
Burnside." 

A despatch to Burnside was sent in duplicate ; one 



222 Life of General Grant. 

copy to be delivered to Gen. Burnside, the other to be 
allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy. 

Gen. Grant became impatient with all delays; and on 
the 20th he placed the whole force moving on Knox- 
ville, under command of the most energetic of his gen- 
erals, Sherman, lie wrote to him, " Push as rapidly 
as you can to the Iliswassee, and determine for yourself 
what force to take with you from that point. Granger 
has his corps with him, from which you will select, in 
conjunction with the forces now with you. In plain 
words, you will assume command of all the forces now 
moving up the Tennessee." 

In our next chapter, we shall see the results of this 
mardi. 



CHAPTER XXn. 



THE SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE. 



KNOXVILLE, formerly the capital of Tennessee, 
is beautifully situated on the Holston River, a 
hundred and eighty-five miles east of Nashville. It is 
located on high ground, commanding a fine view of the 
river and the blue mountains of Chilhowee, thirty miles 
distant. 

Gen. Burnside had thrown up a line of works around 
the city, from the river on the left to the river on the 
rio-ht. He had about twelve thousand six hundred 
men, and three or four thousand more loyal Tennessee- 
ans. Longstreet had with him about twenty-two thou- 
sand men of all arms. Beef, cattle, and hogs had been 
driven into the city, and slaughtered and salted. Use- 
less animals were killed, rations were reduced ; and the 
works were put in the best possible condition. Farmers, 
and Union citizens from the country, volunteered to work 
in the trenches, and did so bravely. Negroes cheerfully 
worked early and late, and many disloyal men were 
compelled to aid in protecting the city from assault. 
The farmers loaded flat-boats with grain and provisions 
of all kinds, and sent them down the river, under cover 
of the autumn fogs, at night. Formidable ditches were 

223 



224 Life of General Grant. 

made ; abatis, and all the usual devices for withstanding 
a siege, were constructed. 

At the north-east corner of the works, on high ground 
west of Knoxville, was an eminence named " Fort 
Saunders." A battery, crowned the summit. It was 
protected by traverses ; and every effort had been made 
to render it impregnable to assault. If carried, it per- 
mitted the destruction or capture of Knoxville. 

Both Burnside and Longstreet, who was a very able 
militarj^ man, knew that really the siege of Knoxville 
was to be decided on the heights of INIissionary Ridge. 
If Knoxville coidd not be carried at once, he would find 
himself between Burnside's intrenchments in front, and 
Grant's victorious legions in his rear. 

lie determined to make one more fight for rebel 
dominion in Tennessee, and ordered an assault on the 
morning of the 29th of November. Late in the night 
of the 26th, the rebels advanced, and sunk rifle-pits 
along the whole line to aid the assaulting columns. Four 
brigades of picked regiments Avere chosen to make the 
assaidt : they were compelled to advance over a piece 
of ground two or three hundred yards Avide. 

Sunday morning the 29th, the artillery of the enemy 
opened with a terrible cannonade ui)on the fort, which 
our mms received in ominous silence. It was con- 
tiinied for half an hour. Every gun on the fort was 
loaded, every man at his post ; but not a gun was fired. 
At last, a solid colunm of rebels moved out on the open 
space, and advanced to the assault at a double-quick. 
Numbers fell over the wires Avhich had been stretched 
across the ground : but the colunm ])ressed forward : and, 
when near the ditch, the guns from the fort all opened, 



Siege of Knoxville. 225 

loaded Avitli triple rounds of canister. The slaughter 
was fearful beyond description. Forces were stationed 
also on the flanks of the fort, which gave them a cross- 
fire over the same masses. 

The front ranks fell like grass before the scythe ; hut 
the column pressed up, trampling over the bodies of 
their dead and dying comrades. Those who succeeded 
• in crossing the ditcli found themselves at the foot of the 
parapet, where hand-grenades were thrown over among 
them. Every head that appeared was instantly pierced 
by a rifle-bullet, or beaten to pieces with the butts of 
infantry muskets. It was a scene of carnage and blood 
beyond the power of words to describe. Five hundred 
were captured ; and a thousand rebels lay dead in front 
of the fort, who, an hour before, were glowing with 
manly life, — each one of them an American ; each 
one with some heart to love him, and sorrow for his loss ; 
but each one fighting in a war for slavery, and meet- 
ing at last a traitor's death. 

The moans of the dying, the piteous cries of the 
wounded, rose up to heaven on the still sabbath air. 

As soon as it was evident that the foe had retired from 
the assault, Gen. Burnside himself, with becoming hu- 
manity, offered a flag of truce, under which they could 
bury their dead and care for the sufferings of the 
wounded. 

" Not wholly lost, Father ! is this evil world of ours : 
Ui^ward through its blood and ashes spring afresh the Eden 

flowers : 
From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their 

prayer ; 
And still thy ^vhite-winged angels hover dimly in our air." 
15 



226 Life op General Grant. 

Gen. Burnside had lost only thirteen men. The 
works were admirably eonstrueted by the engineering 
skill of Generals O. E. Babcock and O. jM. Poe ; and 
the whole defence inspired by the spirit ainl valor of 
Lieut. Samuel Benjamin, commander of the fort, who 
was supported by the utmost coolness on the part of 
detachments of three hundred men from the Seventy- 
ninth New- York and Second !Michio;an Volunteers. 
These men reserved their terrible fire until the enemy 
were actually at the ditch, and then made every shot 
a messenger of death. 

Half an hour after Burnside tendered to Loncrstreet 
the flao; of truce, the latter received a message from 
Jefferson Davis, announcin<T Brazil's defeat at Mission- 
ary Ridge, and ordering him to unite with the latter. 
But Longstreet had more military skill than Davis, and 
decided to aid Bragg by continuing the siege. He 
would thus call off Grant from the })ursuit of Bragg ; 
or, if Grant followed Bragg without relieving Burnside, 
he would, after a few days more, have starvation as his 
powerful ally in the siege of Knoxville. 

Longstreet now received the despatch from Grant to 
Burnside written for his perusal, and put in the way of 
the rebel scouts. From this, Longstreet learned of 
Sherman's advance ; that he was cut off from his sup- 
plies ; and, if he would escape capture, he must hurry 
toward Virginia. He accordingly raised the siege, aiul, 
on the ni^ht of the -Itli of December, began his 
retreat. 

Tlie next morning, Sherman sent to Burnside as 
follows : " I am here, and can bring twenty-five thou- 
sand men into Ivnoxviile to-morrow : but, Longstreet 



Siege of Knoxville. 227 

having retreated, I feel disposed to stop ; for a stern 
chase is a lono; one. But I will do all that is possible. 
Without you specify that you want troops, I will let 
mine rest to-morrow, and ride to see you." 

The next morning, Sherman rode over to Knoxville, 
and held an interview with Gen. Burnside. They 
arranged for the pursuit of Longsti'eet, and that Sher- 
man should return to Grant's support, lest Bragg should 
venture to attack Grant with his now-reduced force. 

On the Gth, Gen. Halleck, in a report to the Secre- 
tary of War, said, " Considering the strength of the 
rebel position, and the difficulty of storming his in- 
trenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be consid- 
ered the most remarkable in history." 

On the 10th of December, Gen. Grant issued the 
following eloquent order to his victorious soldiers : — 

" Tlie general commanding takes the opportunity of returning 
his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave armies of the 
Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee, and their comrades 
from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes 
achieved over the enemy. In a short time, you have recovered 
from him the control of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to 
Knoxville. You dislodged him from liis great stronghold upon 
Lookout Mountain ; drove him from Chattanooga Valley ; wrested 
from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge ' 
repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upor 
Knoxville ; forced him to raise the siege there ; driving him at al 
points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of th( 
State. 

"By your noble heroism and determined courage, you have 
most eifectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regain in^: 
possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You havi 
secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or 
dislodge you. For all this, the general commanding thanks you 



228 Life of General Grant. 

collectively and individually. Tlic loyal people of the United 
States thank ami l)less you. Tlieir hopes and prayers against this 
unholy Rebellion are with you daily. Tlieir faith in you will not 
be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to 
Almighty God will be answered. You wiU yet go to other fields 
of strife ; and, with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty 
to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you 
will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, 
however formidable, can check your onward march." 

The battle of Chattanooga will ever be regarded as 
one of the most romantic and interesting in the annals 
of war. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

THE campaign was indeed extraordinary. The war 
in the South-west was substantially closed. The 
opening of the Mississippi had severed the Confederacy, 
and separated its armies from their great supplies of cat- 
tle in Texas ; and they were now shut out from the rich 
granaries of Tennessee and Kentucky. With the excep- 
tion of Virginia, the Rebellion was dethroned when its 
proud army was hurled from the summit of Missionary 
Ridge. There was historic grace and fitness, therefore, 
that, in the closing drama, the men of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, of the North-west, and the descendants of 
those who conquered at Bunker Hill and Saratoga, 
should unite in achieving this transcendent victory. 
Their blood, mingling there in a common libation, gave 
hope that the Union would be immortal. 

The national standard flying from the peak on Lookout 
Mountain signalled Sherman's great march to the sea. 

Upon the assembling of Congress on the 8tli of De- 
cember, on motion of Hon. Mr. Washburne, the thanks 
of Congress, and a gold medal, were voted to Gen. 
Grant. The medal was ordered to be "presented to 
him in the name of the people of the United States of 
America." 

229 



230 Life op General Grant. 

The Legislatures of Ohio, New York, and other States, 
passed votes of thanks for his pubhc services. Various 
religious bodies of high character, among them the 
Methodist Missionary Society of the Cincinnati Con- 
ference, elected him to honorary membership. 

While these honors were being showered by his 
grateful countrymen on Gen. Grant, he was busily 
occupied in visiting the outposts of his army, prepar- 
inrr reports, and submitting plans to the government for 
future operations. He visited Nashville and Knoxville, 
crossing the country by the Cumberland Gap on horse- 
back, that he might see the country for himself, and 
examine the routes for supplying his army. The snow 
was deeper than had been known for thirty years ; and 
the party often waded through deep drifts, driving their 
hali-frozen horses before them. He could have gone by a 
shorter and easier route ; but such was the temperament 
of the man, that no route seemed to him long or difficult 
which gave him the most valuable information m regard 
to his army and his duties. 

Wherever he went, crowds thronged to greet him ; 
but everywhere he seemed unconscious of his great 
achievements. His manners were simj)le and natural. 
Various efforts were made to induce him to make 
speeches, but never with success. At Lexington, 
Gen. Leslie Coombs said to the crowd, " Gen. Grant 
has told me in confidence that he never made a speech, 
knows nothing about speech-making, and has no dispo- 
sition to learn." 

It was on his return from this tour, that Gen. Grant, 
in one of his communications to the War Department, 
foreshadowed the march of Sherman tlu'ough the South. 
He said, — 



Results of the Campaign. 231 

"I look upon the next line for me to secure to be that from 
Chattanoorja to Mobile; Montgomery and Atlanta being the im- 
portant intermediate points. To do this, large siipiilies must be 
secured on the Tennessee River, so as to be independent of the 
railroad from here (Nashville) to the Tennessee for a considerable 
length of lime. Mobile would be a second base. Tlie destruction 
which Sherman will do to the roads around Meridian will be of 
material importance to us in preventing the enemy from drawing 
sup})lies from Mississippi, and in clearing that section of all large 
bodies of rebel troops. ... I do not look upon any points, except 
Mobile in the south, and the Tennessee River in the north, as 
presenting practicable starting-points from which to ojjerate 
against Atlanta and Montgomery." 

On the 24tli of Januaiy, Gen. Grant was informecl 
by telegraph that liis oldest son, who had accompanied 
him through his Vicksburg campaign, was lying danger- 
ously sick at St. Louis ; and he obtained leave to visit 
him for a few days. 

He arrived unheralded, unannounced ; and the first 
intimation the citizens of St. Louis had that the hero 
of Vicksburg and Chattanooga was among them was 
on seeing on the hotel-register the name of " U. S. 
Grant, Chattanooga." 

Men show their characters in small matters. The 
citizens would have been glad to escort him into the city 
with a cavalcade, under waving flags, beneath smiling 
balconies, and through applauding thousands ; but he 
had given no opportiniity for display. 

He was at once invited to a public dinner. 

The banquet was siamptuous and elegant in all re- 
spects. At the toast, " Our disinterested guest, Major- 
Gen. Grant," the band strvtck up, "• Hail to the Chief." 

Gen. Grant rose, and said, " Gentlemen, in response, 
it will be impossible to do more than thank you." 



232 Life of General Grant. 

Durincf tlie evenino;, he was serenaded ; and the 
hotel was surrounded by thousands anxious to see 
him, and shouting, " Speech, speech ! " Gen. Grant 
stepped out upon the balcon}'", and was welcomed l)y 
the most flattering cheers. He instantly removed 
his hat, bowed, and, amid profound silence, said, 
" Gentlemen, I tliank you tor this honor. I cannot 
make a speech ; it is something I have never done, 
and never intend to do : and I beg you will excuse me." 

But the crowd were not so easily satisfied, and contin- 
ued shouting loudly, " Speech, speech ! " 

Several gentlemen urged him to address the people ; 
but he declined. At last, one said, " General, tell them 
you can fight for them, but cannot talk to them : do 
tell them that." 

But Grant could not glorify himselT; and he imme- 
diately answered, " Some one else must say that if it is 
to be said." 

But the multitude thinking he only needed urging, 
and continuing their shouts, he leaned over the balcony, 
and said deliberately, " Gentlemen, making speeches is 
not my business. I never did it in my life, and never 
will. I thank you, however, for your attendance 
here." 

He then bowed and retired. 

Whik> in the city, he visited tlie university, and was 
also invited to attend a meeting in aid of the Sanitary 
Commission. lie took the occasion to express his 
grateful appreciation of the great and beneficent work 
done by the commission for the soldiers in an eloquent 
letter. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 

a EN. GRANT had rendered a great service to the 
country in the victories he had acliieved. He had 
captured ninety thousand prisoners, four liundred and 
seventy-two cannon, and small-arms unnumbered. But 
he had also done a great service in demonstrating what 
could be done in a department embracing ten States, 
by uniting its military power under one head. What the 
will of one man had accomplished west of the Allegha- 
nies, showed what unity of plan, and concentration of 
action, could accomplish throughout the country. The 
war was taxing the resources and patience of the people 
as it continued year after year. A victory in one sec- 
tion was offset by a defeat in another. 

While these views were generally entertained, Hon. 
Mr, Washburne of Illinois introduced into Congress a 
bill to revive the grade of Lieutenant-General. But two 
men had ever held this position. In 1798, the country 
was apprehensive of a war with France, then passing 
through its great revolution ; and President John Adams 
appointed George Washington " Lieutenant-General of 
tlie armies of the United States." In 1855, the office 
was conferred by brevet upon Major-Gen. Winfield 
Scott. 

233 



234 Life of General Grant. 

The bill was passed on the 26th of February, 18G4. 
On the 2d of JNIarch, President Lineoln nominated Gen. 
Grant as Lieutenant-General, and he was confirmed the 
following day by the Senate. By the bill, he was " au- 
thorized, und^r the direction of the President, to com- 
mand the armies of the United States." 

The same day, he was ordered to Washington, and 
started the next morning, j\Iarch 4. 

At this time. Gen. Sherman Avas at Mempliis. 
Grant's intention was to return, and accompany the 
army through the heart of the rebel States on its march 
to the sea. Before leaving. Gen. Grant wrote the fol- 
lowing letter to Gen. Sherman, honorable alike to 
the writer and to the friend to whom it was addressed. 
No biography of these distinguished men, and no his- 
tory of our war, is complete without them. 

Dear Sherman, — The bill reviving the grade of Lietitenant- 
General has become a law ; and my name has been sent to the Senate 
for the place. I now receive orders to report to Washington iumie- 
diately in person ; which indicates a confirmation, or a likelihood of 
confirmation. I start in the morning to comply with the order. 

^^^lilst I have been eminently successful in this war, in at least 
gaining the confidenee of the public, no one feels more than I how- 
much of this success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious 
putting-forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has been 
my good fortune to have occupying subordinate positions under me. 

Tliere are many officers to whom these remarks are applicable 
to a greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers ; 
but what I want is to express my thanks to you and IMcPherson, 
as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever 
I have had of success. 

How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me, 
you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given 
you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving, you cannot 
know as well as I. 



Appointed Lieutenant-General. 235 

I feel all the gratitude tlds letter would express, giving it tlie 
most ilattering construction. Tlie word you I use in tlie pluriil, 
intending it for IMcPlierson also. I would write to Lim, and will 
some day ; but, starting in the morning, I do not know that I shall 
find time just now. Your friend, 

. U. S. Gr.\xt. 

The following is Gen. Sherman's reply : — 

Dear General, — I have your more than kind and charac- 
teristic letter of the -Ith instant. I will send a copy to Gen. 
McPherson at once. 

You do yourself injustice, and us too much honor, in assign- 
ing to us too large a share of the merits which have led to }-our 
high ad\ancement. I know you approve the friendship I have 
ever prolfered to you, and will permit me to continue, as hereto- 
fore, to manifest it on all ])roper occasions. 

You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a 
position of almost dangerous elevation ; but if you can continue, 
as heretofore, to be yourself, — simple, honest, and unpretend- 
ing, — you will enjoy through Ufe the respect and love of Iricnds, 
and the homage of millions of human beings, who will award you 
a large share in secm-ing to them and their descendants a gov- 
ernment of law and stability. 

I repeat, you do Gen. McPherson and myself too much honor. 
At Belmont, you manifested your traits ; neither of us being near. 
At Donelson, also, you illustrated yom- whole character. I was 
not near, and Gen. McPherson was in too subordinate a capacity 
to influence you. 

Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almo>t cowed by 
the terrible array of anarchical elements that presented them- 
selves at every point ; but that admitted a ray of hght I have 
foUowed since. I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just as 
the great prototype, Washington ; as unselfish, kind-hearted, and 
honest as a m:in should be : but the chief characteristic is the 
simple fiith in success you have always manifested, which I cao 
liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the Saviour. 

This faith gave you the victory at Shiloh and at Vicksburg. 
Also, when you have completed your best preparations, you gt 



23 G Life of Geneeal Grant. 

into battle without hesitation, as at Chattanooga, — no doubts, 
no reserves ; and I tell you it was this which made us act with 
confidence. 

My only point of doubt was in your knowledge of grand strategy, 
and of books of science and of history ; but I confess, your com- 
mon sense seems to have supplied all these. 

Now, as to the future. Don't stay in "Washington. Come 
West. Take to yourself the whole Mississippi Valley. Let us 
make it dead sure ; and I tell you the Atlantic slopes and Pacific 
shores Avill follow its destiny as surely as the limbs of a tree live 
or die Avith the main trunk. We have done much ; but still much 
remains. Time and time's infiuence are with us. We could 
almost afford to sit still, and let these influences work. 

Here Hes the seat of the coming empire ; and from the West, 
when our task is done, we Avill make short work of Charleston and 
llichmond and the impoverished coast of the Atlantic. 
Yom" sincere friend, 

W. T. Sherman. 

The appointment of Gen. Grant touched the heart 
of the wliole nation ; and, aUhough he travelled rapidlj, 
wherever the people heard of his coming they tlirOnged 
to the railway stations, and ratified and indorsed the ac- 
tion of the government by cordial greetings and tumul- 
tuous cheers. 

On arriving at Washington, he went to Willard's Ho- 
tel, and soon after walked quietly into the dining-room 
with his son, without escort or staff, wearing a blue coat 
■which had evidently seen service. He had been there 
some time unnoticed, when he was recognized by a gen- 
tlemen Avho had seen him in New Orleans. He an- 
nounced that Lieut. -Gen. Grant Avas present ; and the 
whole company, ladies and gentlemen, at once rose to 
their feet, and greeted him with we,^-c>ming applause. 
The homage was spontaneous and liearty. 



I 



Appointed Lieutenant-General. 237 

In the evening, lie attended the usuiil levee of the 
President. lie walked into the reception-room mian- 
nounced, but was immediately recognized and cordially 
received by j\Ir. Lincoln. The east room adjoining 
was, as usual on such occasions, crowded with members 
of Congress and their families, officers of the army and 
navy, and distinguished strangers in Washington. 

As soon as Gen. Grant entered, and his presence 
became known, the enthusiasm was very great. The 
company crowded around him ; and he was finally com- 
pelled to mount a sofa, where he was saluted with 
cheer upon cheer. But it was apparent that it was not 
wholly pleasant to the general to be the object of such 
marked attention. He afterwards escorted Mrs. Lin- 
coln through the rooms, and retired. He remarked to 
a friend before leaving, " This is the tvarmest campaign 
I have had during the war. I must get away from 
Washington soon. I do not fancy this show-business." 

At one o'clock the next day, Gen. Grant was for- 
mally, received by the President in the Executive 
Chamber, and presented with his commission as Lieu- 
tenant-General. There were present all the members 
of the cabinet. Gen. Halleck, one or two other gentle- 
men, and Gen. Grant's son. 

President Linco\ji rose from his chair, and said, — 

" Gemekal Grant, — The nation's approbation of what you 
have already done, and its reliance on you lor what remains to do, 
in the existing great struggle, is now presented, with this commis- 
sion constituting you Lieutenunt-General of the Army of the United 
States. With this high honor devolves on you a corresponding 
responsibility. As the country here intrusts you, so, under God, 
it will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here 
speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concui-rence." 



238 Life of General Grant. 

Gen. Grant, receiving the commission, replied, — 

"Mr. President, — I accept this commission with gi-atitudo 
for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies 
who have fought on so many fielils for our common country, it 
■will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. 
I feel the full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me. 
I know, that, if it is properly met, it will be due to these armies, 
and, above all, to the favor of that Providence wliich leads both 
nations and men." 

Gen. Grant was then presented to the members of 
the cabinet. That evening he had a long consultation 
with Gen. Ilalleck on military affairs, and the next 
morning, in company with Gen. jSIeade, visited the 
Army of the Potomac. It was evident to all, that the 
new Lieutenant-General was not disposed to spend much 
time pver ceremonials at Washington. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. — THE ADVANCE. 

THE weeks of March cand April were passed in re- 
organizing the army and preparing for the spring 
campaign. Gen. HaUeck was made chief of staff, and 
stationed at Washington. Gen. Sherman was put in 
command of the West. Gen. Meade remained in 
immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, 
with whom Gen. Grant estabhshed his headquarters in 
the fiekL 

The number of the army corps was reduced to three ; 
and ]\Iajor-Generals Hancock, Warren, and Sedgwick 
were in command. The caA^ahy, with ten thousand 
sabres, was under the command of Gen. Sheridan. 
Gen. Banks was to open a campaign in Louisiana ; 
Gen. Sherman was to commence operations in Northern 
Georgia ; while Gen. Steele was to move against Ster- 
ling Price in Arkansas, and Gen. Butler was to 
threaten Richmond from Bermuda Hundred. Thus 
it will be perceived that Gen. Grant's combinations 
covered a theatre of war whose magnitude has been 
seldom equalled. But he addressed himself to the 
vast undertaking with his wonted energy, calmness, 
and perseverance. " Success was a duty." 

The topography of Virginia was remarkable. The 

239 



240 Life of General Grant. 

whole State was little less than a vast fortress for the 
rebels, manned by the most splendid of the Southern 
armies, and commanded by the ablest of the rebel 
generals. 

Its bastions were mountains, its trenches were 
valleys, its moats were rivers, its embrasures were 
mountain-gorges. Its natural features offered in every 
direction the most formidable obstacles to our advance, 
and, at the same time, were easily defended. 

Richmond was one hundred and seventeen miles 
from Washington on the James River, and ordinarily 
contained a population of sixty thousand. Beauregard 
and the engineers of the rebel army had exhausted their 
skill and resources upon its fortifications, until it had 
become one of the strongest citadels in the world. 
Culpeper Court House, ten miles north of the Rapidan 
and seventy-five miles south of Washington, was the 
headquarters of Gen. Grant. Lee with his veterans 
was at Orano-e Court House, ten miles south of the 
Rapidan. The two armies were twenty miles distant 
from each other. 

Grant now issued the death-warrant of the Rebellion 
in giving orders for a general advance of the army. 



1 



Jliilli,:^''i]#itl'!^:' 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS. 

ON the afternoon of tlie 3d of May, 1864, the tents 
of the Union army were struck ; and that night, 
heneath the starhght, troops hegan crossing the Rapidan 
at Germania and Ely's Fords. The crossing was con- 
tinued during the next day. The force numbered a 
hundred thousand men. The day was warm, the sun 
was bright ; and as column after column wound its way 
down the river's bank, over the bridges, and spread out 
in marching order on the opposite side, banners and 
bayonets disappearing in the distance, the scene, both 
as a picture and for its moral associations, was deeply 
impressive. Grant said, " This is a wonderfully-fine 
appearing army ; but it has seemed to me it never 
fought its battles through ^ 

They marched toward the Wilderness. This is a 
wild, desolate tract of country in Spottsylvania County, 
about five miles wide, and twelve miles long. It is an 
immense jungle. The wood has been burned off for 
miners : its surface is uneven, and covered with stumps, 
bushes, and an undergrowth of pines and scrub-oaks. 
Artillery and cavalry are at a great disadvantage in 
such a labyrinth. Fires were seen blazing on the hill- 
tops to signal our advance to Gen. Lee. 

16 241 



242 Life of General Grant. 

Unlike most generals in both armies, Lee did not 
generally approve of fighting an army at a river's bank 
to prevent its crossing, but preferred to allow it to cross 
in almost all cases. Lee determined to attack Grant in 
the Wilderness, where he and his men were perfectly 
familiar, and, if possible, destroy his army in the o])ening 
of the campaign. He had seen six generals start for 
Richmond ; but he was now to meet the man Avho was 
to go there. 

Gen. Warren was Avith the advance, and had his 
headquarters at the house of a Major Lacy, where 
Stonewall Jackson lay after being shot at Chancellors- 
ville. It was on a little eminence west of the old Wil- 
derness Tavern, on the Orange Turn])ike ; and here 
Grant took his station. Warren's corps was attacked 
about noon on Thursday, May 5. Beginning with 
;)icket-firing and skirmishing, by twelve o'clock the 
Oattle was fully ojxMied. 

Lee, Avith his hosts concealed in the forests, could 
mass his troops, and hurl them on any point of the 
Union line which he chose to attack. The enemy came 
on, confident of victory, and fought with the most deter- 
mined bravery. Our men, largely outnumljered at 
this p()int, slowly fell back, mitil cni'lv in the after- 
noun tliey were re-enforced, riilliid, and drove the 
enemy Avith terrible slaughter. Hour after hour, the 
l)l()ody conflict raged. Tlie bodie's of thousands were 
borne to the rear in every form of nnitilation. Bright 
eyes that welcomed the morning's sun with liojie and 
gladness were closed forcA^er. Townrd niglit, the 
rebels had been rej)ulsed so generallv, that Gnuit or- 
dered an ad\ance along our Avhole hue ; but darkness 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 243 

settled down over the scene before the final arrano;e- 
niLMits were completed. The hospitals were crowpled, 
and surgeons and attendants were at work all night. 
Parties were engaged burying the dead ; while, at head- 
quarters, Grant and his generals were occupied in pre- 
paring for a renewal of the battle at daylight. " Attack 
along the whole line at five in the mornino- " was 
Grant's order. 

The enemy were also making similar preparations ; 
and, at a quarter before five o'clock in the morning of 
Friday, a furious onset was made upon Gen. Sedgwick's 
corps. 

But Gen. Lee was now dealing with a man who was 
not to be " bluffed " or disconcerted. Grant's prepara- 
tions were neither hurried, delayed, nor changed by 
Gen. Lee. He began his movements at five o'clock 
precisely as he had ordered. The line of battle was 
now some five miles in length, running north and south. 
The attack on Sedgwick was a feint. The real attack 
was to be made on Hancock's corps, on our left, by 
Longstreet and his veterans. Hancock advanced on 
both sides of the Orange Plank-road, the troops fight- 
ing with unsurpassed bravery. The contest was des- 
perate ; for the rebels fought with reckless heroism : but 
nothing could resist the valor of our soldiers ; and they 
steadilj^ drove the enemy m confusion nearly two miles, 
killing, wounding, and taking prisoners. Some of the 
terrified enemy fled even to the headquarters of Gen. 
Lee. 

But the victorious advance disordered our men ; and 
the movement throuirh the woods had disarran<Ted their 
formation. 



24:4 Life of General Grant, 

Wli2n once, the line is badly broken, soldiers begin 
to ^'el as if each man is fighting by himself, or in a 
crowd or mob : the sensation of being part of an army, 
and that fifty thousand men are striking with him, is 
lost. The line was re-formed, and again advanced ; but 
the enemy were now greatly strengthened. Gen. Lee, 
to re-assure his soldiers and excite them to the utmost, 
rode to the front of a brigade of Texans, Avhere he was 
instantly recognized, and, seizing a flag, ordered them to 
follow him in a charge. But the men, like the rank 
and file of every army who have a brave commander, 
loved their chief, and did not move. A bronzed veteran 
in the ranks, with a clarion voice, shouted that they 
would not stir till he had gone to his place in the rear : 
the shout was re-echoed by the whole brigade, until he 
was forced to retire. 

But the rebel line was now so strono;, that it was • 
impossible to break it. A few hours after, the enemy 
themselves attacked, and flung their columns u])on our 
lines with such terrific ])ower, now here and now there, | 
that our line was pressed back some distance. Gen. 
Wadsworth of New York, seeking to stem the tide, 
was shot through the head. 

Again our troo})s rallied, and amid fearful carnage 
forced the enemy back with heavy loss, and took uj) 
their former position. 

Night again closed over the bloody field. Neither 
party had won a decided triumph. Some of the soldiers 
thought the army would retreat the next day across 
the Rapidan, and call for re-enforcements ; but Grant 
had come out to fight, and took no step backward. 
He was at lieadciuarters, quiet and determined, issuing 



i 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 245 

his orders. lie claimed no victory, smoked constantly, 
and remarked, " I have noticed that these Southerners 
fight desperately at first ; yet, ivhen ive liang on for a 
day or two, we ivldp them aivfully.'''' 

Thousands more had been wounded, and thousands 
slain. The dead were to be buried. 

In narrating the history of battles, it is impossible not 
to mention prominently the names of leading generals ; 
but it can never be done without deep emotion at 
thought of the private soldiers, the unnamed heroes, 
wdio went down unheralded to death, each of them 
with a life precious to him and to those who loved him. 
Sorrow was flying that night to thousands of afflicted 
homes, which its shadow would darken for years ; and 
these brave men were to find their graves, not beneath 
sculptured marble, not among kindred where flowers 
would bloom over their dust, but in this dreary region 
of darkness and gloom. 

But the spirit of the private soldiers of the Union 
armies inspired the war, and achieved its victories. A 
regenerated nation is their mausoleum. Wherever 
they lie, whether in the solitude of the wilderness, in 
the lonely mountain-pass, or beneath the beautiful 
magnolia's blossoms, the place of their last repose will 
be hallowed till the end of time. 

Saturday morning came ; but it was apparent that 
the unparalleled exertions of the previous days had told 
upon the powers of the men in both armies. There 
was skirmishing : some guns on our right opened ; but 
there was no reply. Each was willing to be attacked, 
but disinclined to attack. Gen. Grant did not assault, 
because he had not intended to fifflit in the Wilderness : 



246 Life of General Grant. 

he was merely passing through it. It was Gen. Lee 
who had required that it sliould be made a battle-field ; 
and it was Gen. Lee who was now leaving it. At 
noon, it was found he was in full retreat to Spottsyl- 
vania Court House. Pursuit was immediately begun, 
Avliich soon changed into a race, as both parties desired 
to secure the high ground around -Spottsylvania Court 
House, fifteen miles distant. Gen. Grant rode forward 
to the advance ; and, as he passed with his staff by the 
side of the troops, he was greeted by the soldiers with 
the wildest enthusiasm. 

But the enemy had the start, and were in position 
when our forces arrived on Sunday morning. 

Part of the day was occupied in examining the 
position which the enemy held, putting the divisions 
of the army in proper place as they arrived, and 
locating batteries. On Monday, while directing some 
of his artillery-men, Gen. Sedgwick noticed them 
Avatching with a little uneasiness the bullets of the 
sharj)sho()ters, and said in a joking way, " Oh ! they 
couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." He had 
hardly uttered the words, when a Minie-ball tore 
through his brain, and he fell dead into the arms of 
one of his aides, — another costly sacrifice in the cause 
of the Union. A brave man, and a s})lendid officer, he 
gave his life freely to his country in the day of its 
perih 

During jNIonday and Tuesday, the tide of battle 
surged Hke the ocean, — now advancing, now receding. 
The scenes were similar to those frecjuently described 
in i)receding pages. Assaults on the enemy's intrench- 
ments were made with unsurpassed heroism, and met 



Campaign in the Vv^ilderness. 247 

by the most stubborn courage. The battle raged with 
unabated fury. The roar of artillery, the sharp rat- 
tle of musketry, the shrieking of bursting shells, were 
mingled with the groans of the wounded. The dying and 
dead covered the field by thousands. During the after- 
noon of Tuesday, a dash was made from our left by 
Gen. Wright's division, capturing nine hundred prison- 
ers and several guns. 

Later in the afternoon. Gen, Lee massed his troops 
in front of our centre, with the intention of hurling 
them Avith overwhelming strength upon that part of our 
line. To disguise his purpose, he sent two brigades to 
attack our right : but Grant had too recently employed 
the same tactics against Bragg at Chattanooga to be 
deceived by Lee ; and, by a singular coincidence, he was 
at the same time strengthening his own centre, prepar- 
atory to attacking Lee. Both genei'als had determined 
to assault each other on the same plan at the same time. 
The result was a desperate attempt on either side to 
break the line of the other. 

On Wednesday, the battle was renewed ; and Gen. 
Grant sent to Washington his well-known despatch : — 

" We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. 
The result to this time is mucli in our favor. Our losses have 
been heavy as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the 
enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand pi-ison- 
ers by battle, whilst he has taken from us but few excejjt strag- 
glers. I propose to Jiijht it out on this line if it takes all summer." 

Grant determined to attack the enemy's right centre ; 
and during the niglit, under cover of a fog, a portion of 
the troops under Hancoc.'k, Barlow, and Gibbon, were 
advanced to witliin twelve hundred yards of the position 
they were to storm. 



248 Life op General Grant. 

At lialf-past four o'clock, Thursday morning, they ad- 
vanced at the double-quick, and, with cheers which 
echoed to the skies, rvished over the enemy's works, and 
engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with bayonets and 
clubbed muskets with the astonished foe. The fight 
was short, but sharp, and endtd in the capture of thirty 
2;uns, twenty colors, and over three thousand prisoners, 
amono- them Generals Johnson and Stewart. Lee him- 
self also narrowly escaped capture, although this was not 
known at the time. 

The position Avon by our men was hotly contested 
throughout the day. Lee seemed determined to retake it 
at any sacrifice of the life of his men. Five times the most 
savage assaults were made by the rebels, and five times 
they were repulsed \yith fearful slaughter. At times, the 
rival flags would be seen for a few moments on opposite 
sides of the same breastworks* The fighting was as 
fierce and deadly as any that occurred during the 
whole war. The carnage on both sides was frightful.* 

During the day, an incident occurred showing Gen. 
Grant's coolness, and readiness to apply the results of 
his military training. A shell fell near where Gen. 
Grant and some of his officers were standing ; and, Avhile 
the latter were stej)ping out of the way. Grant drew a 
small compass from his pocket, examined the course of 
the shell, ascertained the location of the battery, and 
at once gave orders for a few of our guns to reply in a 

* "In the vicious phraseoloiry commonly cmplayed by tliose who un<ler- 
take to describe military operations,. ii'nl especially by those who never wit- 
nessed a battle-field, ' piles of dead ' fijrnre much more frequently than they 
exist in reality. The phrase is here no fijfure of speech, as can he attested 
by thousands who witnessed the ghastly scene." — Camjxiir/ns of the Army 
of the Potiomac. 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 249 

direction which soon rained a shower of shells upon the 
annoying rebel battery. 

Brio;.-Gen. Rice of Michicran Avas among those 
mortally womided. " Turn me," said he a few 
moments before he expired, — " turn me, that I may die 
Avith my face to the enemy ! " After his wish had been 
complied with, he said, " Tell my wife and children I 
died for my country." — " How does the great Captain 
of salvation appear to yova now ? " said the chaplain. 

" Oh ! Jesus is near and very dear," said the dying 
man, and soon after ceased to breathe. And thus 
another of the army of Christian heroes went up from 
the ensanguined fields of our war for freedom. 

Hour after hour, the bloody havoc went on, until 
twenty thousand more precious lives were added to the 
costly sacrifice which slavery demanded w^ith insatiable 
cruelty and voracity. 

The army surgeons, the chaplains, the agents and 
nurses of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, 
followed the reaper Death as he gathered his harvests 
of woe, binding up the wounds of the suffering, and 
ministering consolation to the dying. 

" In dust the vanquished and the victor lie : 
"With copious slaughter all the fields are red, 
And hea])ed with growing mountains of the dead. 
So fought each host, with thirst of glory fired ; 
And crowds on crowds triumphantly expired." * 

* Pope's Homer, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. 



AN order was read to the army, announcing the 
victorious march of Sherman, through Georgia, 
to the sea. The cheers with which it was received 
rancj out above the din of battle, and were heard all 
along the rebel lines. 

May 9, Sheridan had been sent, with ]\Ierritt, Custer, 
and a force of cavalry, on a raid to Richmond. At 
Beaver Dam, on the Virginia Central Railroad, they 
destroyed the station, ten miles of track, three trains 
of cars, a million and a half of rations, and liberated 
four luuidred Union soldiers taken in the Wilderness, 
and then on the way to Libby Prison. At Yellow 
Tavern, a few miles north of Riclunond, they had a 
battle with the rebel cavalry under Gen. Stuart, who 
was mortally wounded. Sheridan now dashed down 
the road to Richmond ; and Custer carried the outer 
defences, capturing one hundred prisoners. But Rich- 
mond could not be taken by cavalry. He rejoined the 
army on the 25tli of Mav. 

The army manoeuvred for several days with a view 
to find a vulnerable point of attack in Lee's intrench- 
ments, and finally, on the 20th, began a flank-march 
to turn the enemy's position, and compel him to leave 

250 



Battle of Cold Harbor. 251 

his intrencliments. It is one of the most difficult 
operations in war, and especially so in the presence of 
an able tactician like Gen. Lee ; yet it was executed 
with complete success. But at midnight the rebels, 
under Longstreet, started south in the hope of inter- 
posing again between Gen. Grant and Richmond. 

The two armies were again on a race, this time for 
the banks of the North Anna River; but, as Lee 
already held the shortest road, there was every chance 
that he would make the quickest journey. 

The march was through a portion of the State which 
showed the great fertility of soil and the immense 
natural resources of Virginia. The weather was per- 
fect, and scattered along the route were the stately 
mansions and broad acres of the Virginia gentlemen 
of the olden time. The region had not been swept by 
the tornado of war, and offered a beautiful picture of 
the Old Dominion in the days when McDowell, and 
Tom Marshall, and T. J. Randolph, had denounced 
slavery as " a curse," " a cancer," and predicted ruin 
and desolation for their native State unless she entered 
on a pohcy of emancipation. Their prediction was 
fulfilled. 

On Monday, the 23d of May, the anny had reached 
the north bank of the North Anna ; but the col- 
umns of the enemy were already on the opposite 
side. On the 24th, our army crossed in full force ; 
but, after carefully examining the rebel intrenchments, 
Gen. Grant became satisfied that they could not be 
carried by storm without a loss of life which he would 
not incur. 

On the night of the 26th, with great skill, and un- 



252 Life op General Grant. 

known to tlie enemy, Gen. Grant again crossed the 
river, and marched south toward the Pamunkey River 
and the city of Richmond. Not a shot had been fired, 
nor any sound made to disturb the . rebel pickets. 
When dayhght came, Gen. Lee discovered that the 
Union army was ah'eady on its way to Richmond. 

On the 27th, our army reached the Pamunkey at Han- 
overtown. Thus, with masterly ability. Grant had com- 
pelled Lee to leave his Intrenchments. He had placed 
himself within fifteen miles of Richmond, and estab- 
lished a new and convenient base for supplies for his 
army by the York River and Chesapeake Bay, and 
opened communication with the columns of Gen. But- 
ler on the James River. 

He held command of the peninsula without having 
exposed Washington, or allowing Lee to keep a quarter of 
our army marching back and forth to protect that city. 

The places In the vicinity w^ere familiar to the old 
Army of the Potomac who had served under Gen. 
McClellan. The slimy swamps of the Chickahominy, 
where so many thousands had been sacrificed ; Fair 
Oaks, from which Gen. Hooker had trotted down to 
within four miles of Richmond unopposed, until ordered 
back ; Mechanlcsville, which, <after a victorious and 
bloody repulse of Lee's army, had been suddenly evac- 
uated by our perplexed and doubting commander ; 
Gaines's ^NIIll, where one wing of the army had driven 
back the rebel hosts, while sixty thousand Union sol- 
diers stood idle near at hand because their general 
could not decide whether to unite or divide his forces, — 
these spots were all within a short distance, and the 
thunder of our cannon could be distinctly heard at 
Richmond. 



Battle of Cold Harbor. 253 

Gen. Grant had not yet taken Richmond ; but he was 
fighting the rebel army. He was appalled by no visions 
of a rebel force two hundred thousand strong, which 
demanded daily re-enforcements from Washington at 
every halt ; and he never, in a single instance, tele- 
graphed to President Lincoln as another had done, 
" If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I 
owe no thanks to you or to any jjcrsons in Washington : 
you have done your best to sacrifice this arniyy * 

" Gen. Grant determined to force a passage across the 
Chickahominy. But a direct assault on the enemy's 
formidable wqrks would lead to fearful loss of life ; and 
he therefore determined to extend toward the left, and 
cross the river below at Cold Harbor. The place had 
no harbor^ but was a small inland town at the junc- 
tion of several roads, and of great importance to the 
enemy. Lee had been re-enforced by the garrison at 
Richmond, and was prepared to offer the most desperate 

* A governor of one of the New-Englazid States stated in the hearing of 
the writer, that, soon after Pope's defeat at Bull Run, he, with a few others, 
was conversing with President Lincoln concerning tlie prospects of the war, 
and renaarked that " the people of his State were willing to do every thing 
possible to benefit the government: but they were not wiUing to bury their 
sons and brothers in the swamps of the Chicliahominy to no purpose." 
One gentleman present intimated that Gen. McClellan could not be sincere 
in his determination to conquer, and must be disloyal. Mr. Lincoln said 
"No: I liave watclied McClellan'very carefully. I do not think he is dis- 
loyal; but he is constitutionally an ovei-cautious man. This and his inde- 
cision prevent all permanent success. For instance, the rebels lately, in 
moving into JIaryland, advanced rapidly. Gen. llcClellan was urged to do 
the same: but no; he insisted upon moving his whole army, day by day, in 
complete battle-array, ready to resist attack at any moment. Nothing we 
could say would induce him to value time and move with speed. He was 
a week or more in going tlie distance the rebels travelled in two days. 
Now, the result shows, if he had only saved half his time, he would have 
destroyed Lee's army, and ended the war." 



254 Life of General Grant. 

resistance to Gen. Grant's advance. The rebel line 
was about six miles in length ; and orders were given 
to attack the whole front at daylight on the morning of 
June 1. The assault was made by the Sixth Corps 
and Gen. Smith's command, which had just arrived 
from Butler's army. Gen. Burnside attacked the 
enemy's left. The first line of works was carried and 
held. The record of the day's fighting was like that 
often friven. Our soldiers advanced to the muzzles of 
the enemy's guns with a bravery and patriotism that 
smiled at death in defence of their country ; and they 
were met by a courage as fearless as it was misplaced. 
Fierce assaults were made upon each of our corps not 
engaged in the principal attack; but, in every instance, 
were repulsed. 

Our loss in the battles at and around Cold Harbor 
was numbered by thousands. 

Among the killed was Brig.-Gen. Peter A. Porter 
of New York. Ilis patriotism had descended to him 
from a distinguished father, — Gen. Porter of Niagara 
Falls, who served with honor in the war of 1812. 
When the Rebellion broke out, Gen. Porter left a 
home of wealth and taste, embellished with every 
attraction which could be desired, and gave a noble 
life to the cause of his country. lie was struck in 
the neck, and fell, but rose to his knees, when he was 
pierced by six bullets. His last words were, " Dress 
up to your colors ! " 

" If there be, on this earthly sphere, 
A boon, an olFerinjr, Heaven holds dear, 
'Tis the last libation Liberty draws 
From the huai't that bleeds and breaks in her cause." 



« 



Battle of Cold Harbor. 255 

The whole series of brilhant mihtary operations by 
wliich Gen. Grant had carried an. army of a hundred 
thousand men in forty-three days from the Rapidan to 
the James, without the loss of a wagon, compelling 
his able antagonist to race at his side for the safety of 
the rebel capital, will never cease to be the study and 
admiration of the military student. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 



/^ EN. GRANT now determined to adopt the other 
VlX^ alternative, -which had from the first been in his 
mind, and transfer his army by flank-marches to the 
south side of the James River. This operation, in tlie 
face of an enemy always alert and energetic, Napoleon 
pronounced " the ablest manoeuvre taught by military 
art." To conceal his purpose, strong demonstrations 
were made at Meadow Bridge and two or three other 
points, as if with a vicAV of crossing the Chickahominy ; 
and Gen. Lee commenced strengthening these points by 
defensive w^orks. But on Sunday, the 12th of June, 
the army of more than a hundred thousand men, 
including cavalry, artillery, and infantry, began their 
march ; and so skilful had been the arrangements, that, 
though within a short distance of an enemy in nearly 
equal numbers and a vigilant commander. Gen. Lee 
knew nothing of the movement, until, on the morning of 
the 13th, he found that his adroit and active enemy was 
far on the way to his rear. 

The host pressed on night and day with untiring 
energy. Across rivers and mountains, through val- 
leys and plains, the army mo^•cd, until, almost with- 
out halting, they were, in thirty-six hours, on the 



256 



Siege of Petersburg. 257 

south bank of the James, fifty -five miles from Cold 
Harbor. 

This extraordinary movement, in the secrecy, quick- 
ness, and perfect success with Avhicli it was executed, 
has excited the unqualified admiration of every historian 
of the war, North and South, 

Petersburg is twenty-two miles south of Richmond, 
on the Appomattox ; and is the centre of all the rail- 
roads connectino; Richmond and the Southern States. 

Gen. Butler had, on the 10th, sent a force of infantry 
and cavalry to capture the place if possible, and to 
destroy the railroads and bridges over the Appomattox. 

The work was gallantly done, but with partial suc- 
cess. The defences on the south side were carried, 
and our men penetrated some distance into the town : 
but the works were too strong to be carried by assault ; 
and Gen. Gilmore, in command of the expedition, retired. 

Gen. Lee, astonished to find Gen. Grant fifty miles 
south of him, had hurried his army with all haste to 
the defence of Petersburo;, rushing through Richmond 
to the amazement of its citizens. They succeeded in 
arriving a few hours before the assault on the loth. 

In this whole movement of Gen. Grant to the south 
of Richmond, he evinced a moral courage and self- 
reliance scarcely surpassed by his determination to 
move south of Vicksburo; against the advice of all his 
generals. The Administration had no desire to interfere 
with his plans ; but it was well known it was exceed- 
ingly anxious that the army should be kept between 
Washington and Lee's army, and not beyond and south 
of it. The government was well aware of the supreme 
importance which in Europe is attached to the cap- 
17 



258 Life of General Grant. 

ture of a nation's capital. Vienna in possession of the 
French army Avas Austria conquered. Paris in the 
hands of tlie alHed sovereigns was France subjugated. 
The capture of Wasliington would lead to immediate 
and most embarrassing complications in our foreign 
relations. 

But, confident in the right, Gen. Grant " took the 
responsibility." He had intended to take Petersburg 
before l^ee could arrive ; and had ordered Gen. Butler 
to send forward Gen. Smith's corps for this purpose as 
soon as it arrived from the Chickahominy, which w^as 
prom})tly done : but Smith, moving in the deliberate 
style of the former campaigns of the Potomac Army, 
lost several hours of time, which never returned ; and, 
when the advance was made, Lee and his veterans had 
arrived in force. 

Durino; the week followincj, several assaults were 
made with unparalleled heroism by the troops under 
Generals Meade, Burnside, Butler, Warren, Hancock, 
and other commanders ; but it was demonstrated that 
the hosts of Lee, securely intrenched behind their for- 
midable Avorks, could resist fivefold their numbers. 
Petersburg was only to be taken by siege. 

June 22, Gen. Wilson, with six thousand cavalry, 
was sent to destroy the railroad communications south 
of Petersburg. He struck the Weldon Railroad at 
Ream's Station, and destroyed sixty miles of track, with 
dei)ots, bridges, cars, locomotives, blacksmith-shoj)s, and 
mills. He brought in iuur hundred negroes, and large 
numbers of horses and nuil(?s. 

The army, which had now been fighting and march- 
ing, almost without mtermission, for two months of 



Siege of Petersburg. 259 

extreme heat, enjoyed some days of comparative rest : 
still the Union lines were steadily closing around Peters- 
burg, which was practically an outwork of Richmond. 

Our lines now embraced a circuit of thirty miles. 
The main body of our army was south of and in front 
of Petersburg; while Gen. Foster was at Deep Bottom, 
and Gen. Butler was at Bermuda Hundred. 

The labors of Gen. Grant were multiform and 
unceasing, — studying his plans, conferring with his 
engineers, receiving reports, and issuing orders at head- 
quarters, riding to the outposts, superintending the 
works, speaking a cheering word to the pickets. Night 
and day, he was unwearied and unwearying in his care 
for his army and his watchfulness of the enemy ; 
always plainly dressed, often attended only by a single 
orderly. The soldiers observed all these things, appreci- 
ated their general, and gave him their entire confidence. 
Officers and men said, " Gen. Grant is so easy to ap- 
proach! " He always endeavored to set an example of 
earnest work, of avoiding show, and laying aside all 
official airs. 

Sometimes the lessons which he gave in a quiet way 
to pompous subordinates were very effective. He 
happened to be one day on the wharf at City Point, 
plainly dressed, as usual, where a young second lieuten- 
ant, with very bright buttons and a very faultless blue 
coat, was directing some colored men in rolling a 
hogshead on board of a boat. It was so heavy, the men 
could not move it at first ; when the young officer 
shouted gruffly, " Come, niggers, hurry up your work, 
or get another man to help you ! " 

A man who stood near, with a faded blue coat on, 



260 Life op General Grant. 

turned up liis sleeves, joined the negroes in pushing the 
hogsliead on to the boat, then, without speaking a word 
to any one, walked away. It was the Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral of the United States, as the young officer soon 
learned to his amazement. 

It was probably of no consequence whether the boat 
was loaded five minutes sooner or later ; but it tvas of 
great consequence to show sympathy with the humble 
labor of -the humblest man in carrying forward the 
great campaign, and to rebuke snobbery and laziness 
in high and low. 

The soldiers saw, that with all his attention to the 
great plans, the mighty machinery of the campaign, he 
provided thouo'litfully and with enercry for the small com- 
forts of his soldiers. The men expressed a determination 
to work and fight, because " it is Grant's job, and we 
are going to put it through for him." Such conduct in 
all armies always endears a commander to his soldiers. 

" What is under my head?" said Su' Ralph Aber- 
cromby, when dying at the siege of Alexandria, in 
Egypt. 

" A blanket." — " Whose blanket ? " — " It is only 
one of the men's," was the answer. 

" I want to know whose blanket it is." — " Duncan 
Roy's of the Forty-second, Sir Ralph." 

" Then see that Duncan Roy has his blanket to- 
night." The next day an army wept, and a nation 
mourned. 

Gen. Grant inspired his soldiers by his bravery, won 
their confidence by his skill, and their love by his 
kindness. 

On the 21st of June, President Lincoln visited Gen. 
Grant. 



Siege of Petersbueg. 261 

For several weeks, the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania had 
been at work on a mine opposite the corps of Gen. 
Burnside, who had originally suggested the under- 
takino;. 

A gallery was dug out five hundred feet in length : at 
its end were two side-galleries, each forty feet long, 
directly under one of the rebel forts. In these side- 
galleries, four tons of powder were placed. The whole 
work was done with such entire secrecy, that no suspi- 
cion of its existence was created. 

Some deserter or prisoner had published the fact in 
a Richmond paper ; but, after examination, it was dis- 
believed in the rebel army. 

The morning of July 30 was fixed upon as the time 
for the explosion. The rebels were strolling about, 
laughing, talking ; some of them singing, " Maryland, 
my Maryland ! " — little thinking that they would soon 
be numbered with the dead. 

The mine was ready ; the match was lighted ; the 
siege-guns were loaded, ready to open their hea^y fire 
to protect the storming column : but the mine did not 
explode. Lieut. J. Douty and Sergeant Reese of the 
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania volunteered to enter the 
gallery, and ascertain the cause of the delay. The fuse 
was found to be damp. Another was lighted ; and, a few 
moments after, there was a low rumbling of the earth : 
then came the terrible explosion. The fort was lifted 
two hundred feet into the air, and with it the torn 
and mangled bodies of three hundred men of South- 
Carolina regiments, cannon, rocks, camp-equipages, 
broken gun-carriages, mingled in the clouds of smoke, 
and sheets of fire, which soared up to the skies. At 



2G2 Life of General Grant. 

the same Instant, the gnns of all onr batteries opened 
with a thunder •which was heard at a distance of several 
miles. The explosion showed a chasm one hundred 
and fifty feet long, sixty feet wide, and thirty feet deep. 

It was one of the many instances in war where time 
is every thing ; where five minutes' delay will make all 
the difference between an exultant victory which cheers, 
or a mortifying defeat which saddens, a nation's heart. 

The storming-party were in the middle of the chasm. 
The enemy Avere paralyzed with terror and confusion : 
another mine might explode in an instant under their 
feet. Invisible danger is always the most ap})alling. 
The very uncertainty magnified their fears. It was 
the moment to rush forward, Avhile unopposed, to the 
crest of Cemetery Ilill, only four hundred yards dis- 
tant, which commanded the whole rebel works. 

" Seize, seize the hour 
Jire it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment 
In life which is sublime and weighty."* 

But the advancing column halted, the divisions which 
followed halted, for a few moments only ; but it was too 
late. Confusion ensued ; the rebels, recovered from 
their fright, opened fire from their guns with terrible 
ertect. They thri-w up intrenchments, planted new 
batteries. Gen. Potter suceeeik'd in charmno; toward 
the crest ; but the enemy now met him with a furious 
storm of grape and canister, and he was compelled to 
fidl back. 

Our loss in killed and captured was four thousand 
men, that of the enemy one thousand. 

There were nfilitary courts of inquiry, and long 

* Schiller's Wallenstcin. 



Siege op Petersburg. 263 

investigations by Congressional committees, as to the 
causes of the faihire. There were Ion"- and elaboi'ate 
reports to prove that the assault ought to have been a 
success ; but none of them succeeded in recalling the 
few moments lost in tlie outset, or altering the fact of 
failure. Men who are to make such an assault should 
be the picked men of an armv. 

On the 4th of July, Gen. Grant united in the honors 
paid at Gettysburg to the fallen heroes who there died 
that their country might live. 

Gen. Lee, wishing to relax, the iron grip with which 
Grant was contracting his lines around Petersburg, sent 
Gen. Early with a strong force up the Valley of the 
Shenandoah to take Washington, invade Pennsylvania, 
capture Philadelphia, and do other fearful things. But 
Gen. Grant was not the man with whom such strategy 
could succeed. The day and the man for that had 
passed away. 

Aug. 7, Gen. Grant did with the Departments of 
Washington, the Susquehanna, and West Virginia, 
what the government had done Avith the larcrer 
departments. He united them into the Middle De- 
partment, under one commander, — Gen. Philip H. 
Sheridan. He sent him two divisions of cavalry ; rais- 
ing Sheridan's force to more than twenty thousand 
men. 

As to instructions. Gen. Grant says, " I left City 
Point on the 15th of September to visit him at his 
headquarters, to decide, after conference with him, what 
should be done. I saw there were but two words of 
instruction necessary, — ' Go in ! ' " He went in, and 
came out with the victories of Opequan, Fisher's Hill, 



264 Life op General Grant. 

Cedar Creek, and Waynesborough, on liis banners. His 
memorable ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek, and 
his unmatched prowess, which there, as in the twinkhng 
of an eye, changed defeat and disaster into victory and 
renown, is not exceeded in splendor in all the brilliant 
annals of war. The rebels had made the I'ich Valley 
of the Shenandoah their stamping-ground, and fi-om its 
inexhaustible fields had drawn immense sup)»lies for 
their armies. They had rendered it absolutely neces- 
sary that it should be devastated in such a manner, that, 
as Grant expressed it, nothing should invite their return. 
Sheridan performed this painful duty in a way which 
left this beautiful region until the close of the war a 
monument of desolation, which realized Burke's jiicture 
of the tempest of destruction and woe with which Ilyder 
Ali blasted the Plains of the Carnatic. 

During the siege, there were operations north and 
west of Petersburo;, attended wnth various degrees of 
success. Gen. Butler crossed the James, and, with the 
Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, attacked Fort Harrison, 
below Chapin's Farm, capturing fifteen guns and a large 
portion of the enemy's iutrenchments. 

A irallant attack was also made on Fort Gillmore. 
Fort Harrison was of such importance to Richmond, 
that several despei'ate assaults were made to recover it ; 
but they were repulsed with great loss of life to the 
enemy. 

Gen. Warren took possession of and held the Weldon 
Railroad. Gen. Lee attacked repeatedly with gi-eat 
force, but without success ; and he was at last compelled 
to surrender this important line of conimhnication. The 
soldiers built a branch railroad from the City Point and 



Siege of Petersburg. 265 

Petersburg Railroad to the Weldon Road, which greatly 
aided in sujiplying tlie army. 

In all the ()})erations around Petersburg, the colored 
troops bore themselves in a manner which elicited uni- 
versal commendation. They were patient in toil, cheer- 
ful under privations, and brave in the hour of danger. 

The capture of Atlanta was announced to the army 
on the 4th of September, and Avas greeted in all the 
camps by long-continued and enthusiastic cheering. 
Afterwards, by way of saluting the victory, all the guns 
opened fire on the rebel works. The rebel guns replied ; 
and, while the cannonade continued, earth and sky 
seemed to tremble with the deafening roar. 

During the remamder of the time, until the opening 
of the spring campaign, operations were mainly con- 
fined to defending and extending our lines, and to crip- 
pling the enemy's lines of communication, as well as 
preventing him from sending any force south. Gen. 
Grant said to a fi-iend at this time, when croakers were 
predicting failure, " I shall take Richmond, and Gen. 
Lee knows it." He exhil)ited the same faith when he 
drew his hues around Vicksburg. 

Mr. Greeley, m his able history of " The American 
Conflict," says, — 

" Grant's conduct of this campaign was not satisfactory to the 
Confederate critics, who gave a decided preference to the strategy 
of McClellan. The merit which maybe fairly claimed for Grant 
is that of resolutely undertaking a very difficult and formidable 
task, and executing it to the best of his ability ; at all events, doing 
it." 

But we must now turn to the movements of Sherman 
and his army. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Sherman's march. 



IT must be remembered that tbe siege of Petersburg, 
and the care of the vast army which encircled it, 
was but one item in the muhitudinous occupations of 
Gen. Grant. The mihtary operations of all the Union 
armies were conducted by him. Iif Missouri, in Lou- 
isiana, in Tennessee, in Georgia, large armies were 
marching, halting, fighting, as he gave orders. The 
oversight of either one was enough to tax the mind and 
energy of any one man. 

When the despatches were read by Gen. Grant 
which announced that Hood, leaving Georgia, had 
crossed the Temiessee, and was marching on Nashville, 
he said, " If I commanded both armies, I should not 
alter the route which Hood is pursuing." * 

Gen. Hood was an impulsive man ; and the object of 
his movements .was not clear to either Generals Grant 
or Sherman, — perhaps not clear to his own mind. He 
doubtless thought he should tind nuich more comfortable 
quarters in the hotels at Nashville than in his camp. 

» " I \v:vs with Napoleon at Boulogne," said Talleyrand, " when he 
learned that Gen. Mack was at Ulm. ' If it were mine to place him," said he, 
putting his finger on the map at Ulm, ' I would place him there.' In a 
few hours, the camp was broken up, and tlic whole army was on the route 

to Ulm." 

266 



Sherman's March. 2G7 

Grant could now bring Sherman's army to Petersbnrg 
by the orJhiary routes, or by a long sweep to the sea, 
and then up the Atlantic coast to some point south of 
Richmond. A march to the sea was determined on, 
resembling, on a gigantic scale, the march of Sheridan 
through the Valley of the Shenandoah. 

Atlanta had been captured ; and Gen. Sherman or- 
dered its complete evacuation as a military post. 

The mayor and city council remonstrated vehe- 
mently. Gen. Sherman's reply enters admirably and 
Avith no waste of words fnto the philosophy of the Re- 
bellion. It was a wholesome preaching they were not 
accustomed to hear. In the course of his letter, he 
said, " TJie only ivaij tlic peojile of Atlanta can Iwpe once 
more to live in peace and cfdet at home is to stop) thisivar; 
which can alone be done by admittino; that it becran in 
error, and is perpetuated in jn'ide. We do not ivant 
your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land^ 
or any tldng you have; hut we do want and will have 
a just obedience to the laws of the United States. TJiat 
we will have ; and, if it involve the destruction of your 
improvemeyits, ive cannot help it^ 

Atlanta on the 15th of November was a city without 
inhabitants. Its houses were empty, its population had 
gone. Flowers were blooming in the gardens ; but 
solitude reigned over the doomed city. That night the 
heavens reflected a sea of fire, the sky was one broad 
sheet of lurid flames. Buildinos coverino- an area of 
two hundred acres were burning. The immense ware- 
houses where the munitions of war for the destruction 
of Union men had been stored were destroyed. The 
founderies where rebel cannon and shot and shell had 



2G8 Life of General Grant. 

been forged and cast were in niins. Terrible retribu- 
tion bad come to this city, whicli bad sent fortli the 
instruments of death to so many thousands of loyal 
men. 

Most of Sherman's army had stalled on its great 
march. A Massachusetts regiment was the last to 
leave ; and, fitly enough, its band was playing, by the 
light of the burning city, '* John Brown's soul goes 
marching on.'' 

For twenty-four days, the army disappeared fi'om 
Northern view into the very heart of the Rebellion. 
About sixty-five thousand men swept over the country 
in a track fifry miles wide, and advanced from ten to 
twenty miles a day. Of these abovit five thousand 
were cavaby, under Gen. Kilpatrick, who moved in 
front and on each flank. The army was organized in 
two grand divisions : one under Gen. Howard, the 
other under Gen. Slocum. Each of these had two 
corps under Generals Logan, Blair, Da\"is, and 
Williams. Accompanying the train were 3,300 wagons 
and 35,000 horses. 1,328 prisoners and 167 guns were 
taken. Our whole loss in killed was 63 men, and 24o 
wounded. 5,000 horses and 4,000 mules were appro- 
priated for anny service. 20,000 bales of cotton were 
burned, and 25,000 captured at Savannah. 13,000 
head of cattle, 10,000,000 pounds of com, 1,217,527 
rations of meat, 910,000 of bread, 483,000 of coffee, 
581,534 of sugar, 1,146,500 of soap, 137,000 of salt, 
and 10,000,000 of fodder, were taken. This was in 
adtlition to the rice and sweet-potatoes, with which the 
anny supplied itself bountifully every day. F<iurteen 
thousand negroes resigned their connection with ^' the 



Sherman's March. 269 

peculiar institution," and followed the armr in its 
march. 

All railroads, depots, mills, founderies, factories, 
arsenals, machine-shops, were destroyed, and every 
thing laid in ruins which could aid the Rebellion. 
The daman-e in the State of Georma alone was esti- 
mated at a hundred milhon dollars. 

This teeming abundance was found in a country 

O *■■■ 

where thousands of Northern soldiers had been deliber- 
ately put to death by the hngering tortures of starva- 
tion ; rebel officers, in some instances, looking at the 
poor beings as they actually gnawed the flesh from 
their arms in their dvinn- ajionies. 

Charleston was evacuated ; Columbia, the capital of 
South Carolina, captui'ed ; and, April 13, the anny had 
moved north, and occupied Raleigh, the capital of 
Korth Carohna. 

It was a just judgment which led the armed hosts of 
the Union, bearing the national ensign, through South 
Carolina, which had commenced the war, and brought 
tliis avenging punishment upon herself. " Woe unto 
the world because of offences ! For it must needs be 
that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom 
the offence cometh I " 

Soon after Gen. Sherman began his march, Gen. 
Grant sent out two expeditions to prevent a concL^ntra- 
tion of troops against him, — one fi'om Vicksburg to 
the Big Black River, which destroyed railroads, 
bridges , and mihtary stores ; and the other fixm 
Baton Rouge, threatening the safety of ^lobile. 

The march of Sherman was a means of education 
to the South much needed. It brouo-ht the war to the 



270 Life op General Grant. 

homes of the authors of secession ; it showed the 
people, that, notwithstanding all their leaders had told 
them to the contrary, there ivas a North, there was a 
United-States Government, with the will and power to 
make itself obeyed. 

It also afforded valuable instruction to the men of 
the Northern army : it showed to them with terrible 
plainness the poverty, the ignorance, and the arro- 
gance created by slavery. 

A member of Gen. Sherman's staff met with an 
original chai'acter in Georgia, a shrewd old fellow, who 
expressed his views on reconstruction in the following 
pithy and forcible manner : " It'll take the help of 
Divine Providence, a heap of ram, and a deal of elbow- 
grease, to fix things up again." 

Gen. Grant was among the first to commend Gen. 
Sherman's services, and give to them the most generous 
ai)preciation. He forwarded a subscription of five 
hundred dollars to some friends of Gen. Sherman in 
Columbus, 0., who were intending to present him with 
a testimonial of gratitude ami regard ; connnending the 
general in highest terms as " a good and great man." 

In his official report, he says, " Gen. Sherman's 
movement from Chattanooga to Atlanta was promi)t, 
skilfid, and brilliant. The history of his flank move- 
ments and battles during that memorable campaign 
will ever be read with an interest unsurpassed by any 
thing in history." Gen. Grant never evinced toward 
any one who co-operated with him the spirit of envy or 
disj)aragement, wliich belongs to a little nature. 

Atlanta, the heart of the Rebellion, had fallen : it 
now remained for Grant to take Richmond, it:? head. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



LEE S RETREAT. 



THE final overthrow of the Rebelhon was near at 
hand. During the whiter of 18G4— 5, Fort Fisher 
was taken, which closed the port of Wilmington, N.C., 
— about the only place open to the Confederacy for 
sending out cotton, and importing ordnance, and muni- 
tions of war, from abroad. 

Major-Gen. Grierson, starting from Memphis, cap- 
tured the rebel camp under Forest at Verona, Miss. 
He destroyed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, thirty- 
two cars loaded with wagons and pontoons for Hood's 
army, a large amount of stores, and four thousand 
English carabines intended for the invasion of Ohio 
and Indiana. He also struck the Mississippi Central 
Railroad, destroying machine-shops, factories, stores, 
and thirty warehouses, filled with public property of 
various kinds and of great military value. 

It would require another volume to narrate in detail 
all the particulars of each of the movements throughout 
the country by which Gen. Grant prepared for the 
final campaign. 

Suffice it to say, that in March, 1865, Gen. Canby 
was advancino; from New Orleans against Mobile. A 
cavahy expedition of fifteen thousand men was sent 

271 



272 Life op General Grant. 

out from Middle Tennessee under Gen. J. H. Wilson, 
which entered Alabama, and, sweeping over the region 
watered by the Tombigbee and the Black Warrior 
Rivers, captured Selma, and Montgomery, Ala., the 
capital of the rebel Confederacy. An immense amount 
of property Avas destroyed by the expedition, and by 
the rebels to prevent it fi'om seizure. At Montgomery 
alone, a hundred and twenty-five thousand bales of 
cotton were destroyed, and twenty-five thousand at 
Selma. 

Gen. Grant was apprelicnsive that Gen. Lee might 
evacuate Richmond and unite with Johnston, or retire 
to Lynchburg, and thence move into Tennessee. Grant 
was anxious to decide the fate of the Rebellion at Rich- 
mond, — not because of any excessive importance at- 
tached to that city ; but he felt that the power of the 
Confederacy was in Lee's camp ; that his army must be 
annihilated ; and he had no desire to follow him on a 
chase through the South to Texas. His purpose was 
to break the military power of the Rebellion. 

Gen. Stoneman was sent from East Tennessee with 
a cavalry expedition toward South Carolina, to destroy 
railroads and military resources, and release our starving 
soldiers at the prison at Salisbury, N.C. He was or- 
dered also to destroy the Tennessee Railroad as near to 
Lynchburg as possible. Thence he entered North 
Carolina, capturing the rebel prison-camp at Salisbury 
with 1,3G4 prisoners. Ten thousand small-arms, seven 
thousand bales of cotton, and large magazines of au)- 
munition, and stores of provisions and clothing, were 
destroyed. 

West of the Mississippi, Geu. Pope Avas opening a 



Lee's Retreat. 273 

spring campaign against the rebels Price and Kirbj 
Smith. Gen. Hancock was at Winchester to guard 
against a raid north, or to advance south, as might be 
necessary. 

Generals Sherman and Schofield were at Golds- 
borough, N. C., — near the rebel army under Gen. 
Johnston. Gen. Sheridan had attacked Early at 
Waynesborough, capturing sixteen hundred prisoners, 
eleven suns, seventeen flass, and two hundred loaded 
wagons. Early's force was completely used up ; and 
Sheridan advanced to Whitehouse, where Gen. Grant 
had sent an infantry force and supplies to meet him. 
He soon after joined the army before Petersburg. 

The Armies of the Potomac and the James were 
before the defences of Petersburg and Richmond. 
Gen. Grant was evidently crushing out the life of the 
Rebellion. 

To appreciate the cares and responsibilities of Gen. 
Grant at this time, it must be remembered that his 
supervision of military movements extended from the 
Atlantic to the Indians on the Western wilds, and from 
the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 

On the 24th of March, Gen. Grant issued orders for 
a general advance, on the 29th, of all the armies ope- 
ratino; ao;ainst Richmond. 

But, on the 25th, Gen. Lee resolved to make a des- 
perate struggle to free himself from the inexorable 
power which was steadily closing around him. At 
daylight, two divisions attacked Fort Steadman, Avhich 
was within one hundred and fifty yards of the rebel 
works. It was a square redoubt covering about one 
acre, and mounted nine gmis. Twenty thousand troops 

18 



274 Life of General Grant. 

stood ready to support the attack. The inish was 
sudden, the surprise complete ; and,- in a few moments, 
the guns of the fort were turned upon its defenders. 
The supporting force did not advance immediately. Our 
men soon rallied ; and, as the fort was commanded Ly 
those on its flanks, the artillery opened, and the result 
was the capture of twenty-seven hundred prisoners. 

The o-uns trained on the jiround over which the 
rebels retreated sent forth such a tempest of grape, 
canister, and round-shot, that nearly as many more fell, 
wounded or killed. 

To make this assault, troops had been brought from 
the left of the rebel line ; and an attack was ordered 
along the front of the Second and Sixth Corps on this 
weakened point. The attack was made with great 
spirit : the strongly-intrenched picket-line was carried 
and permanently held by our men. The positions 
gained were of much importance ; and desperate efforts 
were made to retake them, but without success. It 
Avas an offset for our failure at the explosion of the 
mine. 

President Lincoln had arrived at Gen. Grant's head- 
quarters the day previous, and witnessed this battle. It 
had been intended by Gen. Grant to give the President 
a grand review ; but, on account of the bloody contest 
in the morning, it was postponed. President Lhicoln, 
speaking of the victory gained, said, " This is better 
than a review." 

A council of Avar was held here, at which President 
Lincoln, Gen. Grant, Major-Gcnerals Sherman, Meade, 
Sheridan, and Ord, were present. Soon after, Gen. 
Sherman left to rejoin his army. 



Lee's Retreat. 275 

Gen. Lee's dash at Fort Steadman did not change 
Gen. Grant's orders for an advance on the 29th. 
Troops were concentrated, and dispositions made for 
the grand advance on that day. 

Grant's line now extended from the north side of the 
James to Hatcher's Run, forty miles in length. 

At tliree o'clock in the morning, the Fifth Army 
Corps, under Warren, crossed Rowanay Creek : a few 
hours later, the Second Army Corps, under Humphrey, 
crossed Hatcher's Run, four miles above. Both faced 
north, and advanced toward the enemv's rioht. 

When within about two miles of the Confederate 
lines, Warren was sharply assailed, and a battle ensued ; 
the rebels leaving their killed and wounded on the field, 
and losing about a hundred prisoners. 

Humphrey advanced unopposed. Sheridan had 
pushed round to Dinwiddle Court House, several 
miles to the left of the infantry ; where he bivouacked 
on the night of the 29th. Grant sent him the followino: 
despatch : — 

I now feel like ending tlie matter, if it is possible to do so, 
before going back. I do not want you, therefore, to cut loose, and 
go after the enemy's roads at present. In the morning push around 
the enemy, if you can, and get on to his right rear. The move- 
ments of the enemy's cavalry maj-, of course, modify your action. 
We will act all together as one army here until it is seen what can 
be done with the enemy. The signal-officer at Cobb's Hill re- 
ported, at half-past eleven, a.m., that a cavalry column had passed 
that point from Richmond towards Petersburg, taking forty min- 
utes to pass. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

Major-Gen. P. H. Sheridan. 

On Thursday, the 30th, the rain fell in such torrents 
as to render the roads impassable. Friday the 31st, 



27G Life of General Grant. 

Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2, the whole line 
"was engaged in fierce and bloody contest. 

On the afternoon of the 31st, Sheridan advanced to 
Five Forks, tlie key to the whole rebel line, and about 
eight miles from Dinwiddle Court House. The position 
was altogether too strong to be ridden over, and Sheri- 
dan was forced back : but he dismounted the troopers, 
placed them behind some slight breastworks, left his 
horses to the care of a few mounted men, and received 
the enemy with such a deadly fire from his carabines, 
that they gave way ; and night soon after compelled a 

cessation of the fiHit. 

o 

Grant, learning of Sheridan's situation, sent do\^Ti a 
division of the Second Corps (Warren's) to his support ; 
and at daylight the battle was renewed. 

Sheridan, mounted on his splendid black horse, 
Rienzi, so famed in the poem entitled " Sheridan's 
Ride,'' accompanied by his staff, with his beautiful head- 
quarter-flag, rode up and down the lines, directing the 
formation of his troops. He seemed the incarnation of 
enthusiasm, yet entirely self-possessed. 

When giving an important order to an officer on the 
field, he had a way of leaning over the neck of his 
horse, and, as though there were plenty of time, repeat- 
ing his directions slowly, as if hammering every word 
into his memory in a particular place. 

The troops moved into battle magnificently, but with 
the air and tread of men conscious of coming victory. 
The enemy were steadily pressed back to their works. 
Here the cavalry held the front ; while the infantry, 
charging in flank and rear, rushed over the intrench- 
menta with irresistible power ; Ayres's division taking 



Lee's Retreat. 277 

in a few moments a thousand prisoners, and Griffin's 
fifteen hundred more. The enemy fled toward the 
west, but were charged and pursued with relentless 
vigor until lono- after dark. The battle of Five Forks 
was won, the victory was complete. Between five and 
six thousand prisoners were taken, and all their artil- 
lery. 

The action was in every respect one of the most bril- 
liant, as it was one of the most important, in the war. 
Sheridan masked the movements of his infantry behind 
his lines of cavalry. His bugles sounded as if for a 
charo-e on the rio;ht ; while his real blow was delivered 
with invincible impetuosity on the enemy's left. The 
infontry were moved as if to attack the front ; when sud- 
denly they were wheeled, and hurled with the forc^ of 
an avalanche upon the astounded enemy in tlieir rear. 
Large bodies of infantry and cavalry were handled on 
the field with the skill of a master, and as easily as the 
pawns on a chess-board. 

Gen. Grant thought it possible the enemy might 
leave their lines in the darkness of the night, concentrate 
against Sheridan, and force him out of his position. 
He therefore at once ordered the batteries to open fire 
along the whole line ; and a terrific bombardment 
ensued, which was continued until four o'clock in the 
morning. All night long, the darkness blazed with the 
burstino; of thousands of shells, and the heavens re- 
sounded with the thunders of the heavy guns. It was 
the majestic prelude to the last great battle of the 
Rebellion. It was a swelling anthem which celebrated 
the approaching death of the gigantic conspiracy. 

Gen. Grant's plans were made known only as he 



278 Life op General Grant. 

issued his orders. His reserve as to liis intended 
movements -svas tlie same to those around his head- 
quarters as to the enemy. Tliat night it was tele- 
graphed nortli that Sheridan was to make a raid to 
Burkesville ; that the army were to move toward the 
South-side Railroad : but such plans never existed in 
the mind of the commander of our armies. 

At daylight, Sunday morning, April 2, Gen. Grant 
ordered an assault by Parke, Wright, and Ord, who 
held our intrenchmcnts from the Appomattox to Hatch- 
er's Run. 

Parke, with the old Ninth Corps, was opposite the 
strongest portion of the rebel works ; but in a few 
moments they had with a shout carried the outer 
lin^ of defences, and taken twenty-seven guns and sev- 
eral hundred prisoners. 

Wright, with the Sixth Corps, advanced at the signal 
in gallant style, sweeping every thing before them to 
the Boydton Plank-road, capturing guns, flags, and sev- 
eral thousand prisoners. 

Ord, with the Second Corps, had overcome every 
difficulty, and carried the lines near Hatcher's Run, and 
was marching to unite with Wright, and move towards 
Petersburg. 

At this time. Gen. Grant, who had left his head- 
quarters at Dabney's ^Nlills to overlook the movements 
at another point, rode hurriedly along the lines. 
The old Army of the Potomac had welcomed many 
commanders with loud cheers and bright hopes who 
were to lead them to Richnioiul ; but their hopes had 
died in their hearts, and their cheers on their lips. 
Their days of cheerhig and sanguine confidence were 



Lee's Retreat. 279 

gono. But now they saw that the old cry, " On to 
Richmond!" was to be realized in the fuhiess and 
splendor of long-sought victory. The man and the 
hour at last had come. 

As Gen. Grant passed, they now greeted him with 
exultant and grateful shouts. Wild huzzas rang out 
from all sides. He lifted his hat, acknowledging the 
salute, but trotted rapidly on. The soldiers were evi- 
dently in magnificent spii'its. 

Lee was now being pressed back into the inner works 
immediately around Petersburg. The murderous fire 
of the Union cannon, and the line of glittering bayonets, 
were encircling the rebel army, from the Appomattox 
on the right to the Appomattox on the left. 

Gen. A. P. Hill now led a desperate charge, to save, 
if possible, the waning fortunes of the enemy. The 
attack was made with the reckless and impetuous valor 
of the Southern soldiers. It was the last grand attack 
of Lee's army, and was inspired by such determined 
bravery, that our men were re-enforced at the point of 
attack ; but they were met by indomitable heroism, 
and repulsed with terrible slaughter. Gen. Hill was 
killed. He was among the ablest and most daring of 
the rebel o-enerals, and his division one of the most 
renowned in the Southern armies. The words, " Hill's 
division," were the last sounds murnmred by Stone- 
wall Jackson as his wandering mind seemed watching 
the tide of battle on some hard-fought field. 

Large fires were now seen to be burning in Peters- 
buror ; and the sio;nal-officers on the towers soon report- 
ed that Gen. Lee was in full retreat, m three columns, 
across the Appomattox River. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

CAPTURE OF RICHMOND. 

DURING the (lay, President Lincoln was at City 
Point, at Gen. Grant's headquarters, and from 
time to time sent despatches of the advancing tide of 
victories to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, by 
whom they were telegraplied to the Northern and West- 
ern cities, everywhere rejoicing the hearts of loyal men. 
At the same time, Jefferson Davis was attending morn- 
ing service at St. Paul's Church in Richmond. At 
eleven o'clock, an orderly entered, walked up the aisle, 
and handed Mr. Davis a despatch, wliich read as fol- 
lows : — 

" ^ly lines are broken in three places. Iliclininhil must be 
evacuated this evening. " K. E. Lke." 

The intense anxiety prevailing among the people of 
Richmond was depicted in the countenances of the au- 
dience. He read it in silence, and went immediately 
out. The Confederate president was deposed. 

It was a still Sabbath day In s})ring. The city was 
held by the rebel forces. No proclamation was made ; 
no Union flags were in sight ; no Federal guns were 
heard : but the news, in some way, unaccountably flew 
through the air, as news of great events sometimes will. 

280 



Capture of Richmond. 281 

People riislied out of clmrcli, and whispered to each 
other that Richmond had fallen. Carts were driven to the 
offices of the departments, and loaded with papers : the 
banks opened, and began ])aying out money to depositors. 
Wagons, carriages, vehicles of every description, were 
soon in demand at enormous rates, and were driven to 
private houses and stores, and loaded with trunks and 
goods, and hurried to the railroad station. 

Late at night, Gen. Ewell ordered the burning of 
four lariie warehouses filled with tobacco, which threat- 
ened the whole city with conflagration. The citizens 
remonstrated with the military authorities ; but no notice 
was taken of them : and the people of Richmond were 
doomed to see their property destroyed, and their city 
laid in ashes, by the leaders whom they had trusted, and 
followed in the war upon the government. The con- 
flagration spread until the banks, churches, stores, mills, 
all the business part of the city, were in flames. All the 
roads out of the city were crowded with fugitives on 
foot and in every kind of vehicle. Jefferson Davis 
hurried off' on a special train in the afternoon. The 
city authorities had ordered all the liquor in the city 
destroyed, and it poured through the gutters in torrents. 
Enough, however, was secured to infuriate large num- 
bers of lawless and reckless soldiers, who filled the city 
with terror and alarm. Stores were j)lundered, and 
families buried their silver-plate and jewelry. 

These events were all unknown to Gen. Weitzel and 
our army near Richmond. Gen. Weitzel's force had 
been reduced about one-half by the departure of Gen. 
Orel for Petersburg ; but he was ordered to " keep up 
appearances," and give every indication possible of the 



282 Life OF General Grant. 

presence of a large army. In consequence, on Sunday 
evening, he ordered all the regimental bands to ])lay ; 
and " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia " sounded 
forth with and without variations. What soldiers were 
left cheered, shouted, and made all the commotion 
possible. But Gen. Ewell at Richmond, ignorant of 
all this, and wishing to conceal from Gen. Weitzel as 
long as possible that his army was evacuating Rich- 
mond, also ordered his bands to play; and the remnants 
of the two armies treated each other to music all night, 
until the musicians fell asleep exhausted. 

Before daylight, loud explosions were heard in Rich- 
mond, as if the enemy were destroying ammunition. 
The fire was seen reflected on the sky. The rebel rams 
were blown up. Orders were given to caj)ture a 
rebel ])icket. One was soon brought in who told what 
reffiment he belonged to, but could not tell where his 
reshnent or its commander was that niiiht. Soon af- 
ter, a deserter came in, who said he was on guard, but 
had not been relieved at the usual time, and he had con- 
cluded to leave the rebel service. These things con- 
firmed the suspicions that Richmond was being evacu- 
ated. At four, A.M., the inevitable negro drove into 
our lines in a buggy, and stated the fact. At daylight, 
Weitzel sent out forty troopers of the Fourth Massachu- 
setts Cavalry, under Major A. H. Stevens, to recoinioi- 
tre. They rode on and on, umnolested by any one, 
until they found themselves in the streets of Richmond. 
They trotted through the city, and, just as the sun was 
rising, planted their guidons on the capitol. It was a 
new day for Richmond, and a newly-risen morn to the 
nation. 



Capture of Richmond. 283 

At six o'clock, Gen. Weltzel with his army marched 
into Richmond, the coloi^ed remments sin'nno-, — 

" Jjlin Brown's boJy lies a-moulderiiig in the grave." 

A national flag, formerly carried by the Twelfth Maine 
Regiment, which had floated over the St. Charles at 
New Orleans, was raised on the capitol of Virginia. 

Gen. Shepley was appointed military governor. 
The flames were still bm-ning ; and efforts were at once 
made to extinguish the fire. It had already consumed 
a third of the city, covering thirty squares. The 
losses to private property could only be counted by 
milhons. A thousand prisoners were taken : five 
thousand were found in the hospitals. Five hundred 
guns, five thousand small-arms, thirty locomotives, and 
three hundred cars, were left by the retreating army. 

That forenoon, the telegraph carried the joyful tidings 
all over the North. Business by general consent was 
suspended, flags were raised, salutes fired, church-bells 
were rung, prayers of thanksgiving were offered, pub- 
lic meetings were held, and the people gave themselves 
up to gratitude and rejoicing. 

Gen. Grant was a man avIio never omitted to wrino- 
from the enemy all the fruits of victory. When he 
once gained the advantage, he pressed the foe to the 
utmost. When Gen. Grant attacked Lee from the 
south, military critics said it was wrono-; he should 
have attacked from the north. But, now that Lee 
was retreating, Grant's wisdom was shown ; for he was 
directly in Lee's road to the south. 

Monday morning, April 3, it was found that the ene- 
my had evacuated Petersburg; and, while the right of 



284 Life op General Grant. 

our army was entering the city, the cavahy on the left, 
under Custer, were ah-eacly on tlie track of the retreat- 
in ^t enemy. Lee was moving up the north bank of the 
Appomattox, and Grant the south side. Lee's object 
was to reach Burkesville, fifty-two miles from Peters- 
burg, at the junction of the Danville and South-side 
Railroads. 

Lee was confident of making a successful retreat and 
a prolonged campaign. 

Gen. Ord, with the troops of the Army of the James, 
was marching for Burkesville down the line of the 
South-side Railroad : Sheridan, on a parallel line north, 
was marchino; to strike the road north of Burkesville. 
Lee crossed the Ai)pomattox, and reached Amelia Court 
House on the same railroad, where he had ordered sup- 
plies for his army to meet him. But the train which 
carried them had been ordered to Richmond to take 
away Davis and his friends, and went on without un- 
loading the sup])lies, which were there burned by order 
of the rebel authorities. Lee was compelled to halt his 
famished men here during the 4th and 5th, to gather 
up food and forage. Meanwhile Sheridan had struck 
the railroad at Jettersville half-way between Amelia 
Coui-t House and Burkesville, and was in positit)n to 
dispute Lee's advance. Grant and Meade, with the 
Second and Sixth Corps, arrived at Jettersville on the 
5th. That night, Lee left Amelia Court House for 
Farmville, thirty-five miles west, where lie hoped to 
again cross the Appomattox, and reach the mountains 
beyond Lynchburg. But Gen. Da vies had, with a 
mounted force, reached Paine's Cross-Roads, where he 
captured a hundred and eighty wagons, five guns, and 
several hundi'ed prisoners. 



Capture of Richmond. 285 

Lee was now retreating toward Deatonsville, with 
one corps of our army in his rear, one nortli, and one 
south, of his army, moving on parallel routes. 

Sheridan ordered his division commanders to attack 
Lee's army-trains when feasible, and, if the escort' was 
too strong to be captured, to fight on until the division 
behind them could pass them, and attack the enemy 
farther on ; and this division was to fight until it was 
passed by those in its rear ; hoping in tliis manner to 
find the weak spot in the enemy's line where a o-rand 
result could be achieved. 

At Sailor's Creek, a small tributary of the Appomat- 
tox, Lee made a stand to save his trains ; but his line 
was pierced by Gen. Custer's division, supported by 
Crook and Devin. Four hundred wagons were de- 
stroyed ; and sixteen pieces of artillery, and many pris- 
oners, were captured. The attack had separated Ewell's 
corps from the main body of Lee's army, who could 
see the smoke of their burning train in the distance. 
They were charged by a brigade of the cavalry under 
Gen. Stagg, until the Sixth Corps could come up; when 
the enemy fell slowly back, but fighting so stubbornly, 
that, for a few moments, a part of our line recoiled from 
their deadly fire. But, soon after, an assault was made 
by the infantry in front ; and the cavalry under Custer, 
who drew their sabres, spurred their horses into a full 
run, and, with bugles sounding, charged with enthusiastic 
shouts and cheers upon the enemy. The rebel artillery 
poured in shells and grape and canister ; but the horses, 
sharing the excitement of their riders, rushed madly 
on. Sabres were dripping with blood ; wagons, ambu- 
lances, forges, were taken ; whole regiments surren- 



286 



Life of General Grant. 



dercd. Between six and seven thousand prisoners 
were taken, including Lieut.-Gen. Ewell and several 
other general officers : among them were Kershaw, 
Custis, and Lee. 

It was the destruction of tlie rear-gnard of Lee's 
army. The pursuit was becoming a hunt. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE. 

AT Faraiville, the head of Lee's army attempted to 
cross the ^Vppomattox ; but here he was attacked 
by Brig. -Gen. Read, with only two regiments of 
mfantry and a squadron of cavahy, regardless of the 
superior numbers of the enemy. But Lee's veteran 
soldiers were not even then to be turned aside by a 
handful of our men, however heroic. They pressed 
on in overwhelming force, and crossed the river. Our 
loss Avas comparatively heavy ; the gallant Read being 
among the killed. The advance of Lee's army 
passed on ; but, before the rear could cross, the van of 
our Second Corps was upon them, and saved one of 
the bridges from being burned. 

Gen. Grant was with the Second and Sixth Corps, 
and crossed the Appomattox at Farmville. 

But an enemy more dreadful even than Sheridan's 
cavalry, more appalling than the Union bayonets, was 
now uniting to destroy the army of Gen. Lee. The 
men were starving : they could not search for food or 
forage in the neighboring country while the Federal 
horse hung upon their flanks. It was the ghastly skel- 
eton of a proud army which had sought their country's 
ruin. The sunken countenances of the men showed 

287 



288 Life of General Grant. 

they were famishing. Men and horses gladly fed on 
the buds of tlie trees, or a few kernels of parched corn. 
They dropped by hundreds from exhaustion : thousands 
were too weak to carry their muskets. For four days, 
they had been marching and figliting without rations. 

On the night of Thursday the 6th, the rebel generals 
held a council of war, and decided that surrender was 
inevitable. They deputed Gen. Pendleton to announce 
this judgment to their chief. Lee still hoped to cut 
his way through our cavalry. 

Gen. Lee was now retreating toward Appomattox 
Court House, about fifty miles distant, at the head of 
the Appomattox River. 

On Friday the 7th, Gen. Grant addressed to Gen. 
Lee the following letter, written at Farmville. It was 
delivered that night. 

April 7, 1865. 

General, — The result of tlie last week must convince you 
of tlie hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army 
of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and 
regard it as my duty to shift from myself tlie responsibility of 
any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surn-nder of 
that portion of the Confederate-States army known as the "Army 
of Northern Yirginia." 

U. S. Grant, Licutenant-General. 
Geii. R. E. Lke. 

Early the next morning, before leaving his headquar- 
ters, he received the following vague and diplomatic 
reply : — 

Apkil 7, 1865. 
Generai,. — I have received your note of this date. Though 
not entertaining the opinion you exi)ress on the hopelessness of 
further resistance on tlie part of the Army of Northern Vu-ginia, 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 289 

I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask tlie terms you 
•will offer on condition of its surrender. 

E,. E. Lee, General. 
Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 

Gen. Grant at once forwarded the following reply: — 

April 8, 1865. 
General, — Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of 
same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surren- 
der of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In rejily, 
I would say, that, peace being my great desire, there is but one 
condition I would insist upon ; namely, that the men and officers 
surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against 
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. 
I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you 
may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, 
for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the 
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received. 

U. S. Grant, Lieulenant-General. 
Gen. K. E. Lee. 

Sheridan had started for Appomattox Station, five 
miles south of Appomattox Court House, where Gen. 
Custer, who was in the advance, captured four trains 
laden with supplies for Lee's starving soldiers. He 
pushed on toward Appomattox Court House, fighting 
with Lee's advance, capturing twenty-five guns, a 
hospital-train, wagons, and many prisoners. Sheridan 
had hurried up his cavalry ; and Grant had sent forward 
by a forced march the Fifth, the Twenty-fourth, and 
a part of the Twenty-fifth Corps, where they arrived 
at daylight, Sunday morning, April 9. 

Gen. Lee supposed that he confronted only cavalry, 
and had given orders to Gen. Gordon, " Cut your way 
through at all hazards." 
19 



290 Life of General Grant. 

Sunday morning, the rebel army attacked our cavalry 
with iireat vio-or. Sheridan dismounted his men, and 
ordered them to foil back slowly, until the infontry 
could form behind them ; when, at the right moment, 
the bugles sounded to mount : the cavalry rode to the 
right, and disclosed the large masses of infantry and 
the thousands of gleaming bayonets. The impetuous 
Custer was with the advance, dressed somewhat in the 
gay taste of Murat ; his jacket shining with gold lace, 
a crimson silk scarf streaming from his neck, a revolver 
in the top of his cavalry boots, which he used for 
holsters, and an immensely heavy claymore hanging at 
his side.* 

At the moment the order " Charge ! " Avas to be 
given, a horseman was seen bounding out from the 
rebel lines with a white flag, to ask for a truce tih a 
surrender could be completed. He rode upon a full 
run, and was greeted by the wild cheers of the soldiers. 

Gen. Sheridan agreed to a suspension of hostilities 
for half an hour, promising to meet Generals Gordon 
and Wilcox at Apjjomattox Court House when Gen. 
Grant arrived. The officers rode about, and exchanged 
congratulations. The men began making coffee, and 
rejoicing that those sabbath hours would probably 
witness tlie end of the Rebt'Hion. 

At the ajijiDiiitcd linur, (ien. Slu'i'iilm and several 
of his principal otKcers rode over to Api)oinattox. 

Appomattox Court House, where the surrender of 
Gen. Lee was made, is a small oUl town in Virginia, 
containing a court lumse, a tavern, and iour or five 
houses ; the princii)al one being occu})ied by a Mr. 



* Col. NcwlnUl. 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 291 

Wilmer McLean. There was one street In the town, 
and one end of that was boarded up to keep out the 
cows. 

While waiting for the aiTival of Gen. Grant, our 
officers and some of the Southern generals strolled 
about, and talked over the war and the approaching 
peace. Gen. Longstreet was there, his arm still in a 
sling from the wound accidentally given in the Wilder- 
ness by his own men. Gen. Rickett was there, who 
had received the heaviest of our attack at Five Forks. 
He related the audacity of a Yankee cavalry-man, 
mounted on a mule, who leaped over the breastworks, 
near him, and ordered him to siu'render. 

About two o'clock, when Gen. Grant rode into the 
town, he saw Generals Sheridan and Ord at the end of 
the street. Addressing Gen. Sheridan in his usual 
quiet and undemonstrative manner, he said, " How are 
you, Sheridan ? " — " First-rate, thank you. How are 
you?" — "Is Gen. Lee up there?" said Grant. 
t4 Yes." — " Well, then, we'll go up." 

Some men would have entered upon a little glorifica- 
tion ; but this was not Gen. Grant's style. 

" When all was over at Waterloo," said Wellington, 
" Blucher and I met at La Maison Rouge. It was 
midnight when he came ; and, riding up, he threw his 
arms round me, and kissed me on both cheeks as I sat 
in the saddle." 

On reaching Mr. McLean's house, where the inter- 
view was to take place. Gen. Lee was already waiting : 
his fine gray charger, in the care of an orderly, was 
nibblino- the crass on the lawn. Gen. Grant, with one 
or two of his staff, passed into a large front room, 



292 Life of General Grant. 

where lie found Gen. Lee, a tall, soldierly-looking man, 
about sixty, with gray hair and beard, and briglit eyes. 
He was dressed in a new uniform of Confederate gray, 
and wore an elegant dress-sword presented to him by 
the State of Virmnia. 

Grant had ridden over thirty miles ; wore his usual 
campaign suit, not free from dust, and splashes of mud ; 
had no sword or sash, and no insignia of rank. 

The two officers shook hands courteously, and com- 
menced conversation. The first topic related to the 
ceremonies to be observed at the surrender. The 
j)ride of the chivalry was sensitive on this point. Gen. 
Grant, as he could afford to do, waived all ceremony, 
and agreed that the arms should be received by his 
officers, and that Lee's officers should retain their side- 
arms and private baggage. 

Gen. Lee then said that many of his men owned 
their horses. Gen. Grant consented that they should 
retain these also ; adding, " Some will need them at 
home in their sjiring-work." Gen. Lee expressed great 
gratification at the generous terms conceded ; and they 
were embodied in the two following letters, written at a 
small pine-table in the room : — 

Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9, 1865. 
Gi:Ni:itAL, — In accordance with the substance of my letter to 
you of the 8th instant, 1 propose to receive the surrender of tlie 
Army of Northern Vir;^inia on tlie foUowinj; terms: to wit, rolls 
of all the olficers and men to be made in (hij)!icate ; one copy to be 
given to an olFicer to be designated by me, the other to be re- 
tained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The 
officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against 
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, 
and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 293 

for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public 
proi:)erty, to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers 
appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side- 
arms of the officers, nor theh private horses or baggage. This 
done, each officer and man will be alloAved to return to his home, 
not to be disturbed by United-States authority so long as they 
observe their paroles, and the laws in force where they may reside. 

„ „ ^ ^ U. S. Grant, LieutenwU-Gei^eral. 

Gen. R. E. Lee. 

Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
April y, 1SG5. 

Gexeral, — I received your letter of this date, containing the 
terms of the sun-ender of the Army of Northern Virginia as pro- 
posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- 
pressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will 
proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations 
into effect. R. E. Lee, General. 

Lieut. -Gen. U. S. Grant. 

When Gen. Lee came out, as lie stood for a few 
moments on tlie steps waiting for his horse, he looked 
over toward the valley where his army lay, and smote 
his hands together, apparently not noticing any thino" 
until his horse was brought, when he mounted and 
rode off. 

When Gen. Grant appeared, his countenance told 
nothing. His manner was quiet and unexcited as ever 
as he rode away to telegraph the joyful tidings to 
Washington. 

Mr. McLean soon sold out his furniture at high 
prices to officers who wished to preserve relics of the 
memorable occasion. Sheridan gave him twenty dollars 
in gold for the little pine-table, and sent it to the wife of 
his friend Custer. Others plucked the flowers in the 
door-yard, and sent them that night, odorous of peace, 
to distant homes. 



294 Life of General Grant. 

The news of the surrender was received l)y both 
armies with acclamations. That evening, Gen. Grant 
sent rations for twenty thousand men to the starving 
enemy ; and, as fast as j)aroled, Gen. Lee's soldiers 
were furnished with food and transportation home by 
the government they had fought to destroy. 

Gen. Grant proceeded direct to Washington without 
entering Richmond, or accepting ovations on the route. 
He arrived on the 13th of April, and at once advised 
that the draft be stopped, and expressed the opinion that 
the Rebellion was virtually ended. That day, orders 
were issued, in accordance with these views, to stop all 
recruiting, curtail the purchases of arms, ammunition, 
and supi)lies, and to reduce immediately all the expenses 
of the army. 

It was announced in the "Washington papers of A\m[ 
14 that Gen. Grant would attend Ford's Theatre that 
evening, in company with President Lincoln ; but he liad 
made arrangements to visit his family that day, and was 
absent. Pi*esident Lincoln was assassinated that even- 
ing; and the evidence at the trial of Payne showed that 
it was the intention of the conspirators to have murdered 
Gen. Grant at the same time and place. 

Rut Providence had ordered it otherwise. Gen. 
Grant at once returned to Washington, and was one 
of the most sincere mourners at the funeral of his 
tried friend, the beloved and martyred Lincoln, which 
took place on the 19th of A))ril, ISGo, the anniversary 
of the shedding of the first blood in the war in the 
streets of Baltimore. 

Soon after, Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded to 
the presidency on the death of Mr. Lincoln, issued a 



Surrender op Gen. Lee. 295 

proclamation tliat tlie assassination of the President had 
been " incited, concerted, and procured by and between 
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond," and other persons 
named ; and offering a reward for his arrest. On leav- 
ing Richmond, Davis proceeded to Danville, where he 
issued a proclamation to the rebel Confederacy. Refer- 
ring to the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, he 
said, with far more truth and point than he was aware 
of, " We have now entered upon a new phase of the 
struggle." In a few days after, he was amazed and 
bewildered to hear of still another " phase m the strug- 
gle," in the surrender of Lee and his whole army. 
He now fled south as best he could ; hoping to reach the 
seacoast, and escape out of the country. He was taken, 
on the 11th of May, in a small rebel camp at Irwms- 
ville, Ga. When captured, " the president " of the 
Confederacy was dressed in woman's clothes, endeav- 
oring to make his way to a small spring, and elude the 
Federal cavalry which surrounded his tent. 

On the 5th of April, Gen. Grant had w^ritten to 
Sherman that Lee must soon surrender, and directing 
him to advance, and " see if we cannot finish the job 
with Lee's and Johnston's armies." 

On the 16th, Johnston requested an interview with 
Gen. Sherman, in which he offered terms of surrender, 
vi^hich Sherman positively refused. The next day, 
however, they were reluctantly accepted in a modified 
form. 

When transmitted to the Government, they were 
at once rejected, and Gen. Grant ordered to proceed to 
Raleigh, with full powers to act in the premises. He 
did so, but with entire delicacy toward Sherman and 



296 Life op General Grant. 

the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed. 
He arrived on the 21th, and acquainted Sherman with 
the views of the President and cabinet. He refused to 
suspend Sherman as he was authorized to do, or to 
displace him in the negotiations ; and they were renewed 
between Johnston and Sherman : and, the second day 
after his arrival at Raleigh, Grant telegraphed to 
Washino-ton that Johnston had surrendered to Sher- 
man on the same terms which were accorded to Lee 
and the army of Northern Virginia. On the 28th, 
Gen. Grant was again at his headquarters at Washing- 
ton, engrossed in the duties of his office. 

On the 4th of May, Gen. Taylor sui'rendered to 
Gen. Canby all the remaining rebel forces east of the 
Mississippi. On the 22d and 23d, the Union armies 
were reviewed at Washington by the President of the 
United States, the Secretary of War, and the Lieuten- 
ant-General. The splendid pageant was witnessed by 
all the members of the diplomatic corps, and by vast 
numbers of citizens from all parts of the Union, who 
miitcd in this ovation to the patriot soldiers. 

Gen. Sherman was directed to proceed to Texas, and 
take immediate command of our forces there ; but, on 
the 2Gth of May, Gen. Kirby Smith surrendered his 
entire command west of the ^lississippi to Major-Gen. 
Canby. 

The war was thus terminated with the surrender of 
all the armies of the rebel government. The number 
of rebel soldiers who surrendered was 174,223 : the 
number of })ris()ners was 98,802. The Union armies 
under the command of Gen. Grant numbered 1,000,516 
soldiers. Their commander might well be proud of 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 297 

the great services, which, with him, they had performed 
for the comitry. He issued the following farewell 
address : — 

" Soldiers op the Armies of the United States, — 
By your patriotic devotion to your country in the liour of danger 
and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery, and endurance, you 
have maintained the su2:)romacy of tlie Union and the Constitution, 
overthrown all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws 
and the jiroclamations forever abolishing slavery, — the cause and 
pretext of the Rebellion, — and opened the way to the rightful 
authorities to restore order, and inaugm-ate peace on a permanent 
and enduring basis on every foot of American soil. Your marches, 
sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolution, and brilliancy 
of results, dim the lustre of the world's past military achieve- 
ments, and will be the patriot's precedent in defence of liberty 
and right in all time to come. In obedience to your Country's 
call, you left your homes and families, and volunteered in her 
defence. Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the pur- 
pose of your patriotic hearts; and with the gi-atitude of your 
countrymen, and the highest honors a great and free nation can 
accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and 
families, conscious of having discharged the highest duty of 
American citizens. To achieve these glorious triumphs, and 
secure to yourselves, fellow-countrymen, and posterity, the bless- 
ings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant com- 
rades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood. 
The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors 
their memories, and will ever cherish and support then- stricken 
families." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR. 

THE following figures, taken from various public 
documents, will probably give a better idea of the 
gigantic nature of the war, and the costly sacrifices 
demanded by slavery, than any descrij)tion in words. 
Tlie simple facts are a tribute to the patriotism, the 
courage, the enduring faith, of the nation, more elo- 
quent than any language of eulogium. 

The war had closed, and Gen. Grant now addressed 
himself with great energy to the works of peace. 

By the 22tl uf August, he had succeeded in muster- 
ing out of the army 719,338; by Sept. 14, 741,107; 
and by Nov. 15, 1865, there had been returned to 
their homes 800,903 men. The work was rapidly fol- 
lowed every month, until, Nov. 1, 1,023,021 had been 
discharged, and the army reduced to 11,000 men. 
Horses and mules had been sold to the value of >S'15,- 
2o9,000; barracks and hospitals sold to the amount 
of $147,873. The sale of damaged c-lothing yielded 
$002,770. The military railroads, covering 2,030 miles, 
with t),005 cars and 433 locomotives, were relinquished, 
and transferred to proper authorities. Railroad equip- 
ments were sold, amounting to $10,910,812. The mili- 
tary telegraj)h, which extended 15,389 miles, at a cost of 

298 



Gen. Grant since Tiit: War. 299 

$3,219,400, was discontinued, the materials sold, and its 
employes discharged. 

The whole number of men enlisted at different times 
during the war was 2,688,522. Of these, 56,000 were 
killed in battle ; 219,000 died of wounds and disease in 
the military hospitals ; and 80,000 died after discharge, 
from disease contracted during service : making a 
total loss of about 300,000 men. About 200,000 were 
crippled or permanently disabled. Of colored troops, 
180,000 enlisted, and 30,000 died. More than $300,- 
000,000 was paid in bounties, and by states, towns, 
and cities for the support of the families of soldiers. 
The Sanitary Commission disbursed, in money and sup- 
plies, $14,000,000. The Christian Commission dis- 
bursed $4,500,000. 

During the summer of 1865, Gen. Grant accepted 
invitations from various cities to visit New England. 
He returned through the Canadas ; and subsequently 
went to Illinois, visiting the tomb of Lincoln and his 
old home at Galena. Wherever he went, the people 
showed him every demonstration of respect and af- 
fection. 

In December, he made a rapid tour of inspection 
through several of the Southern States. He passed 
one day each in Raleigh, Savannah, and Augusta, and 
two days in Charleston. 

On his return, Pi-esident Johnson requested Gen. 
Grant to report the result of his observations during 
this flying political reconnoissance. In the course of his 
report. Gen. Grant says, — 

" I did not meet any one, either tliose holding places under the 
government, or citizens of the iSouthei-n States, who thinks it jjrac- 



300 Life of General Grant. 

ticable to withdraw the military from the South at present. The 
white and the black mutually require the protection of the General 
Government. 

" It is to be regretted that there cannot be a greater commin- 
gling at this time between the citizens of the two sections, and par- 
ticularly of those intrusted with the law-making power." 

Congress passed a bill to revive the grade of 
" General of the Army of the United States ; " and 
Gen. Grant was appointed to the position. The biU 
was passed in the House of Representatives with only 
eleven chssenting votes. It was advocated by leading 
Democrats, amono; whom was Hon. Mr. Rogers of 
New Jersey. He said, — 

" I believe that the mantle of the illustrious Washington may 
well fall upon the shoulders of Gen. Grant. I believe that he 
has walked in the footsteps of the Father of his Country." 

Hon. Mr. Fink of Ohio, also a prominent Democrat, 
said, — 

" I honor him, sir, not only for his brilliant services in the field, 
but because of his magnanimity in the hour of tiimuph, and his 
genuine modesty. He has conducted himself throughout this war 
independent of party considerations or party intrigues, devoting 
hhnself to the vincUcation of the true honor of the country in 
maintaining the Constitution and preserving the Union." 

The South was underjioino; the convulsions incident 
to the close of a great civil war, an entire re-organiza- 
tion of society, and a change in the relations of master 
and slave. The disbanded officers and soldiers of the 
rebel armies had returned to the South, and sought to 
resume their former influence on political questions. 

Gen. Sheridan reported the condition of affairs in 



Gen. Grant since the War. 301 

Texas to be " anomalous, singular, and unsatisfactory." 
He added, — 

" My own opinion is, that (lie trial of a white man for the murder 
of a freedman, in Texas, would he a farce ; and, in making this 
statement, I make it because truth compels me, and for no other 
reason." 

Gen. Grant made the following indorsement on this 
communication : — 

" Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. — Attention 
is invited to that portion of the within communication which 
refers to the condition of the Union men and freedmen in Texas, 
and to tlie powerlessness of the military, in the present state of 
affairs, to afford them protection. Even the moral effect of the 
presence of troops is passing away; and, a few days ago, a squad 
of soldiers on duty was fired on by citizens of Brownsville. la 
my opinion, the gi'eat number of murders of Union men and freed- 
men in Texas, which not only as a rule are unpunished, but unin- 
vestigated, constitute practically a state of insm-rection ; and 
believing it to be the province and duty of every good govern- 
ment to afford protection to the lives, liberty, and property of its 
citizens, I would recommend the declaration of martial laiv in 
Texas to secm-e these. The necessity for governing any portion 
of our territory by martial law is to be deplored. If resorted to, 
it should be limited in its authority, and should leave all local 
authorities and civil tribunals free and unobstructed until they 
prove their inefficiency or unwillingness to perform their duties. 
Martial law would give security, or comparatively so, to all classes 
of citizens, Avithout regard to race, color, or political opinions-, 
and could be continued until society was capable of protecting 
itself, or until the State is returned to its full relation with the 
Union. The application of martial law to one of these States 
would be a warning to all, and, if necessary, can be extended to 
others. " U. S. Grant, General." 

Gen. Grant, it is to be remembered, is not a politician. 
When the war broke out, he had never acted with the 



302 Life of General Grant. 

Re])u])lican party, but with the Democrats. But in 
nothinc- has his honesty and independence been shown 
more clearly than in his judgments of events growing 
out of the war. Prejudice, preconceived opinions, 
have given way to actual facts as they have arisen. 
" A. foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." 
"Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-mor- 
row speak what to-morrow thhiks." 

On the 11th of August, 18G7, President Johnson 
determined to remove Mr. Stanton fi'om the office of 
Secretary of War, whose views upon the question of 
reconstruction in the Southern States had become 
obnoxious to the President. 

He conversed with Gen. Grant upon the subject, who 
earnestly remonstrated against the proceeding, and in 
the course of the day addressed to him a jjrivate letter 
to the same effect. He foresaw that the action contem- 
plated by the President would lead to evil results. 

This advice was wise, straightforward, and statesman- 
like. It would have been well if it had been followed ; 
but the President was not to be influenced, and the next 
day sent to Gen. Grant a letter directing him to act as 
Secretary of War ad interim. 

In taking the post assigned to him by the President 
as commander-in-chief, he well knew the misconstruc- 
tion which would be put upon his action by thousands : 
but, conscious that he was only doing what duty re- 
quired, he made no explanations ; sought no newspaper 
defence ; made no mention to any one of the private let- 
ter addressed to the President on the 12th ; and the 
letter was not made public until Congress assembled 
the ensuing winter. 



Gen. Grant since the War. 303 

He addressed to Mr. Stanton a letter, written when 
notified that he was to supersede that gentleman, which 
expressed his high sense of the valuable services ren- 
dered by him to the country and to the army. 

It is not within the scope of this work to .write a his- 
tory of the differences between President Johnson and 
,Con<'-ress on the question of reconstruction in the rebel 
States, except so far as the action of Gen. Grant is con- 
cerned. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Johnson had been 
a life-long Democrat and slaveholder until the opening 
of the war. He then denounced secession, and sup- 
ported the Union party in Tennessee. The Republi- 
cans nominated him for Vice-President, not mainly be- 
cause of his superior fitness for the position, but from a 
desire to recognize liberally all men, of every shade of 
ophiion, who sought to preserve the Union. He ac- 
cepted the nomination, and indorsed the principles upon 
which it was made. When, by Mr. Lincoln's death, 
he entered on the duties of President, he said, " Treason 
should be made odious ; " that, in the work of reconstruc- 
tion, " traitors should take back seats." 

The rebel States had overthrown their State govern- 
ments, and now desired, after the war, to return to the 
Union, and be again represented in the National Legis- 
lature. Congress said, in substance, return, but pro- 
vide first that you shall not deprive any citizen of equal 
riffhts before the law. 

When the number of representatives in Congress 
from the Southern States was to be determined, the 
slaves were counted as part of the population , but, 
when the votino; was to be done, the white men alone 
had the power. Congress said,' Slavery is abolished. 



304 Life of General Grant. 

The vote of the rebel soldier at the South must not he 
allowed to count as equal to the votes of two men in the 
free States. Shall the one vote of Jefferson Davis count 
as much as the votes of both Gen. Grant and Gen. 
Sherman ? If the negroes are not fit to vote in the 
rebel States, they are not fit to give power to those 
States in Congress. 

Slavery being abolished, justice requires that the four 
or five millions of freedmen shall be counted as citizens, 
as voters, or not counted at all. If this population is to 
be represented in Congress, it is to be represented like any 
other portion of the people, and not exclusively by their 
former owners, who have attempted to overthrow the 
government and bring anarchy upon the whole country. 

But the President differed from Congress. He was 
Commander-in-chief; he was "President." It was for 
him, and not the representatives of the people, to de- 
cide the terms of reconstruction. The President had 
"a policy " of his own, and used his influence to pre- 
vent the acceptance of these terms. The slave States 
were to come back from their lost battle-fields, from 
Andersonville and Salisbury, with all the excess of 
political power over the free States which they once 
held under the Constitution which they had defied and 
rejected. Here issue was joined. Congress passed 
bills, and the President vetoed them: they passed them 
over the veto ; and the President sought to nullify their 
effect, though sworn to " execute " the laws. 

The President went personally to the people, from the 
HudsoTi to the ^Mississippi, and denounced Congress as 
"a body hanging on the outskirts of the Government;" 
and the people decided against him by majorities vary- 



Gen. Grant since the War. 305 

ing in different States from five thousand to forty thou- 
sand votes. Now, if we concede entire sincerity and 
honesty to the President at this time, it must be 
admitted that some men would liave hesitated, and said, 
" Possibly the loyal millions of the people who have 
sacrificed every thing to save the nation are right, and 
I am wrong. My sworn duty is to ' execute,' not to 
make the laws." But the President did far otherwise. 
He removed Mr. Stanton, who sustained the acts of 
Congress. 

On the 17th of August, he ordered Gen. Grant to 
remove from command at New Orleans Gen. Sheridan, 
who had faithfully carried out the laws in Louisiana and 
Texas. In doing this, he asked Gen. Grant to make 
any suggestions in regard to the order. Gen. Grant 
replied in patriotic terms far above all partisan sjiirit. 
He said, — 

" I am pleased to avail myself of this invitation to urge, ear- 
nestly urge, urge in the name of a patriotic people who have sacri- 
ficed hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands of millions 
of treasure to preserve the integrit}- and union of this country, that 
this order be not insisted on. It is unmistakably the expressed 
wish of the country that Gen. Sheridan should not be removed 
from his present command. 

" This is a republic, where the will of the people is the law of (he 
land. I beg that their voice may be heard. 

" Gen. Sheridan has performed his civil duties faithfully and in- 
telligently. His removal will only be regarded as an effort to 
defeat the laws of Congress." 

The order was for a time suspended ; but Gen. Sheri- 
dan was afterwards removed. 

Jan. 13, 1868, the Senate passed the following reso- 
lution : — 

20 



30G Life of General Grant. 

" Rewlvefl, Tliat having considered the evidence and reasons 
given by tlie President in his report of the 1 2tli of December, 
1867, for the suspension, from the office of Secretary of War, of 
Edwin M. Stanton, the Senate do not concur in such suspension." 

As soon as Gen. Grant was informed of this action 
of the Senate, he notified the President that his 
duties as Secretary of War ad interim were ended. 
He surrendered the keys of the office to the Adju- 
tant-General, the custodian of the building, and re- 
turned to his office at the headquarters of the army. 
This iientleman afterwards surrendered them to the 
demand of Mr. Stanton in person, who took possession 
of the office. 

A long correspondence ensued, in which it was evi- 
dent that the President desired to avail himself of Gen. 
Grant's popularity in carrying on his war with Con- 
gress, — to put Gen. Grant in the front of the battle, 
and use him for his own purposes. But Grant was not 
to be used in any such manner. He had obeyed the 
President's orders during the recess of Congress to act 
as Secretary of War ad interim^ when Mr. Stanton 
retired under protest. He discharged the duties of the 
office with unsurpassed honesty, wisdom, and fidelity. 
In no position in which Gen. Grant has ever been 
])laced has he shown more real ability than in his 
adiniiiistration of the War Department. How he 
ac([uitted himself, let President Johnson himself bear 
witness. In his message to the Senate, Dec. 12, 18G7, 
giving his reasons for suspending Mr. Stanton, he con- 
cludes with these words, — 

" Sahitarv reforms have been introduced by the Secretary' ad 
inlerim (Gen. Grant), and great reductions of expenses have been 



Gen. Grant since the War. 307 

effected under liis administration of the "War Department, to tlie 
saving of luilliuns to the treasury. " ^Vxduew Joiixsox." 

While the friends of Gen. Grant may differ as to the 
value of such a certificate of character, it is certainly 
not for his political opponents to deny its truth, or 
depreciate its worth. 

When notified of tlie vote of the Senate, that, under 
the law, he could not legally continue to act, he refused 
to serve any longer. 

In a closhig letter to the President, defending liis 
conduct, he uses the following plain language : — 

" Tlie course you have understood I agreed to pursue was in vio- 
lation of law, and that without orders from you ; while the course 
I did pursue, and which I never doubted you fully understood, was 
in accordance with law, and not in disobedience of any orders of 
my superior. And now, jVIr. President, when my honor as a sol- 
dier, and integrity as a man, have been so violently assailed, pardon 
me for saying that I can but regard this whole matter, from begin- 
ning to end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for 
which you hesitated to assume the responsibility, in order thus to 
destroy my character before the country. I am in a measure con- 
firmed in this conclusion by your recent orders directing me to 
disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my superior, and your 
subordinate, without having countermanded his authority. I con- 
clude with the assurance, ]\Ii-. President, that nothing less than 
a vindication of my personal honor and character could have in- 
duced this correspondence on my part. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Gkaxt, General.'" 

Gen. Grant confined himself exclusively to his mili- 
tary duties as head of the armies of tlie United States. 

On the 21st of May, 1868, the National Republican 
Convention assembled at Chicago. Every State and 



308 Life op General Grant. 

Territory was represented. The delegates were men 
distino-uislied for tlicir worth in almost all the walks of 
life. The opera-house where the convention assembled 
was crowded from floor to ceiling. 

The chairman of the National Committee, Gov. 
"Ward of New Jersey, opened the proceedings with a 
brief address of welcome. Fervent prayer was offered 
by Bishop Simpson, invoking the divine blessing on the 
deliberations of the assembly, and praying that its ac- 
tion might result in bringing peace and harmony to the 
people of all sections, and increase the prosperity and 
glory of our beloved country. 

Gov. Hawley of Connecticut was elected president. 
The enthusiasm for Gen. Grant Avas unbounded, and 
several premature attempts were made to nominate 
him by acclamation ; but the convention decided to \)V0- 
ceed with its business in regular order. The resolu- 
tions were reported and adopted unanimously ; each res- 
olution, as it was read, being greeted with applause. 

The nomination of candidates for president being 
then in order. Gen. Logan, chairman of the delegation 
from Illinois, rose, and said, " In the name of the loyal 
citizens and soldiers and sailors of this great Republic 
of the United States of America ; in the name of loy- 
alty, li])erty, humanity, and justice ; in the name of 
the National Union Republican party, — I nominate as 
candidate for the Chief Magistracy of this nation 
Ulysses S. Grant." 

The nomination was received with enthusiastic cheer- 
ing. When quiet was restored, the vote of each State 
was called alphabetically, beginning Avith Alabama. 
The chairman of each delegation announced the num- 



Gen. Grant since the War. 309 

ber of its votes, and for whom given. California said 
she came ten thousand miles to give Grant ten votes. 
Connecticut " unconditionally surrendered " her vote to 
U. S. Grant. " Maryland, my Maryland," gave four- 
teen votes for Grant. The vote of Georgia was 
announced by Gov. Brown, who said that the Republi- 
cans of Georgia had many of them been secessionists, 
but acted on the maxim, "Enemies in war; in peace, 
friends." As the call of States proceeded, and the vote 
of eacli was announced with a few patriotic words, the 
applause of the convention was renewed, until, at the 
close, the president made the formal announcement, that 
*' six hundred and fifty votes have been cast, all of 
which are for Ulysses S. Grant." 

The convention and the vast audience, numberincr 
some three thousand persons, now rose to then' feet, and 
greeted the result with tumultuous cheering and every 
demonstration of applause, which continued, without 
interruption, for some minutes. The band played 
" Yankee Doodle ; " the convention again cheered ; the 
ladies waved their handkerchiefs, when the band struck 
up, " Rally round the Flag," which the whole audience 
joined in singing. The scene was one of the most 
impressive and heart-stirring which can be imagined. 
But it was not a mere noisy demonstration of an excited 
crowd. Amid the wild enthusiasm, it was evident that 
hearts were moved by the deep significance, the moral 
grandeur and importance, of the action of the conven- 
tion, and the earnest hope and determination to give 
peace and harmony to a long-distracted nation. 

The father of Gen. Grant, who was visiting relatives 
in Chicago, was present, seated on the platform, — a 



810 Life of General Grant. 

silent, but not an unmoved, spectator of the honors thus 
gratefully bestowed n[)on his distinguished son. 

The day these events were transpiring in Chicago, 
Gen. Grant was at his office in Washington, occupied 
with his official duties. 

When some friends brought him the telegi'aphic 
despatch announcing the action of the convention, lie 
evinced but little curiosity about the vote for president, 
but asked with much interest for the resolutions, and 
read them with attentive and thoughtful care. 

The same evening, a large concourse of the citizens 
of Washington serenaded Gen. Grant at his house. 
He was introduced to the people in a few brief and 
eloquent remarks by Hon. George S. Boutwell, and 
made the following apt response : — 

" Gentlemen, — Being entirely unaccustomed to public speak- 
ing, and without the desire to cultivate that power [laughter], it 
is impossible for me to find appropriate language to thank you 
for this demonstration. All that I can say is, that, to whatever 
position I may be called by your will, I shall endeavor to dis- 
charge its duties with fidelity and honesty of purpose. Of my 
rectitude in the performance of public duties, you will have to 
judge for yourselves by my record before you." 

On the 29th of May, the officers of the convention 
visited Washington, and formally made known to Gen. 
Grant his nomination as President. These jn'occedings 
took place at his residence, in the presence of a large 
assemblage of visitors. 

The general was attired in citizen's dress, wearing 
a blue military vest ; and his manner was calm and 
thoughtful. 

It was observed, that, when Gov. Hawley began 



Gen. Grant since the War. 311 

reading his address, Gen. Grant chanced to be standing 
near a marble bust of President Lincohi, aijd leaning 
upon the pedestal on which it stood. It was thought a 
fortunate companionship. Gen. Grant replied briefly, 
but with evident emotion ; and closed by saying, " If 
elected President, I shall have no policy of my own to 
enforce against the will of the people." 

He subsequently accepted the nomination in the 
followino; letter : — 

Washington, D.C, May 29, 1868. 
To Gfcn. Joseph R. Hawley, President of the National Union Republican 
Convention, — 
In fonually receiving the nomination of the National Union 
Republican Convention of the 21st of May instant, it seems 
proper tliat some statement of my views, beyond the mere accept- 
ance of the nomination, should be expressed. The proceedings 
of the convention were marked with wisdom, moderation, and 
patriotism, and, I believe, express the feelings of the great mass 
of those who sustained the country through its recent trials. I 
indorse their resolutions. If elected to the office of President of 
the United States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the 
laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view of giving 
peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times like the 
present, it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay 
down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an admin- 
istration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are 
constantly arising ; the views of the public on old ones are con- 
stantly changing ; and a purely administrative officer should always 
be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have 
respected that will, and always shall. Peace, and universal 
prosperity, its sequence, with economy of administration, will 
lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the 
national debt. Let us have peace. 
With great respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant. 



312 Life of General Grant. 

On the same clay, a committee of the Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Convention waited upon Gen. Grant, and pre- 
sented a comjilimentary address, and a copy of the 
resolutions passed by the convention. In his reply 
he said, " While it was never a desire of mine to be a 
candidate for political office, it affords me great gi-atifi- 
cation to feel that I have the support of those who were 
with me in the war. If I did not feel that I had the 
confidence of those, I should feel less desirous of accept- 
ing the position. Acceptance is not a matter of choice, 
but of duty." 

This spirit is in keeping with the character of the 
man and the high destiny to which he has been called. 



^' 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

HIS AftkHNlSTRATION. 

GENERAL GRANT was elected President on the 
3d dcay of November, 1868. The states that 
voted for him were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsyl- 
vania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, 
Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, California, Min- 
nesota, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska, 
giving two hundred and fourteen electoral votes. 
The remainder, eighty votes, were given for Horatio 
Seymour. After the canvass of the votes by Con- 
gress, Senator Morton and Representatives Pruyn and 
Wilson were appointed a committee to inform him of 
his election. The Inauguration took place on the 
4th of March. Early in the morning General Grant 
arrived at his office as General of the Army. The 
last papers signed by him were two warrants for hos- 
pital stewards, and some papers to be referred to the 
Secretary of War. The business was done in his 
usual quiet way, so that no one present would have 
suspected that any unusual event was to take place 
during the day. About ten o'clock the procession 
took up its line of march for the Capitol. General 



314 Life of General Geakt. 

Grant was accompanied, in an open carriage, by Gen- 
eral John A. Rawlins, his Chief of Staff, who had 
started with hira from Illinois, attended him through 
all his campaigns, and been his most trusted friend 
and counsellor. When the head of the procession 
reached the White House, a messenger was sent to 
inform President Johnson, and request him to join it ; 
but he declined. The Senat^^Chamber, wliere Vice- 
President Colfax took the oath of office, "was crowded 
with a brilliant array of distinguished visitors. In 
the reporters' gallery, among the correspondents 
watching the scene, was Horace Greeley. At noon 
the heavy bronze doors of the Capitol swung slowly 
open, and there appeared Chief Justice Chase, fol- 
lowed by General Grant, President elect, the diplo- 
matic corps in full costume, and all the chief officials 
of the government. Generals Sherman, Thomas, Han- 
cock, Meigs, and Terry, Avith Admirals Farragut, Por- 
ter, Dahlgren, Goldsborough, and other officers of 
the army and navy. When General Grant was seen, 
the immense multitude broke into loud and long-con- 
tinued cheers. The procession advanced to the plat- 
form w^here the oath of office was to be administered, 
between the colossal statues on either side of Peace 
and War. Other presidents had done the same, but 
never did the presence of the marble figures seem so 
suggestive as at the close of a great civil war. The 
President th'en delivered the following 

Inaugural Address. 

Citizens of the United States : Your suffrage having elevated 
me to the office of President of the United States, I have, in con- 



His Administration. 815 

formity with the Constitution of our country, taken the oath of 
office ])rescribed therein. I have taken this oath without mental 
reservation, with the determination to do, to the l)est of my ability, 
all that it requires of me. The responsibilities of the position I 
feel, but accept them without fear. The oflice has come to me un- 
sought. I commence its duties untrammelled. I bring to it a 
conscientious desire and determination to fill it, to the best of my 
ability, to the satisfaction of the people. 

On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always 
express my views to Congress, and urge them according to my 
judgment, and when I think it advisable, will exercise the con- 
stitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which 
I oppose. But all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they 
meet my approval or not. I shall on all subjects have a policy to 
recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. 
Laws are to govern all alike — those opposed to as well as those 
who favor them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad 
or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution. 

The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many 
questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years 
which preceding administrations have never had to deal with. In 
meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached calmly, 
without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that tlie 
greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be attained. 
This requires security of person, property, and for religious and 
political opinion in every part of our common country, without 
regard to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will receive 
my best efforts for their enforcement. 

A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our 
posterity the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, 
as well as the return to a specie basis as soon as it can be ac- 
complished without material detriment to the debtor class or to the 
country at large, must be provided for. To protect the national 
honor, every dollar of government indebtedness should be paid in 
gold, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Let it be under- 
stood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be 
trusted in public place, and it will go far towards strengthening a 
credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately 
enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than 



316 Lite of Geisteral Grant. 

we now pay. To this should be added a faithful collection of the 
revenue, a strict accountability to the treasury for every dollar col- 
lected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment in expenditure in 
every department of government. 

When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with 
ten states still in poverty from the effects of the war, but soon to 
emerge, I trust, into greater prosperity than ever before, with its 
paying capacity twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it proba- 
bly will be twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of 
paying every dollar then with more ease than we now pay for use- 
less luxuries. Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed 
upon us a strong box — the precious metals locked up in the sterile 
mountains of the far west — which we are now forging the key to 
unlock, to meet the very contingency that is upon us. 

Ultimately it may be necessary to increase the facilities to reach 
these riches, and it may be necessary also that the general govern- 
ment sliould give its aid to secure this access ; but that should only 
be when a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same 
sort of dollar to use now, and not before. 

Whilst the question of specie payments is in abeyance, the 
prudent business man is careful about contracting debts payable in 
the distant future. The nation should follow the same rule. A 
prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and ajl industries encouraged. 

The young men of the country, those who from their age must 
be its rulers twenty-five years hence, have a ])eculiar interest in 
maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what 
will be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth 
in their day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire 
them with national pride. All divisions, geographical, political, aird 
religious, can join in this common sentiment. 

How the public debt is to be paid, or specie payments resumed, 
is not so important as that a plan should be adopted and acquiesced 
in. A united determination to do is worth more than divided 
councils upon the method of doing. Legislation on this subject may 
not be necessary now, nor even advisable ; but it will be when the 
civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country, and trade 
resumes its wonted channel. 

It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to col- 
lect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for 



His ADiiiKiSTEATioN. 317 

and economically disbursed. I will, to the best of my ability, ap- 
point to office those only who will carry out this design. 

In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as 
equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other ; and I 
would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether native or of foreign 
birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized, or the flag of our country 
floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal 
respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their deal- 
ings with us, we may be compelled to foLow their precedent. 

The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land, the 
Indian, is one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course 
towards them which tends to their civilization, Christianization, and 
ultimate citizenship. 

The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the 
public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded 
from its privileges in any state. It seems to me very desirable that 
this question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope, and 
express the desire, that it may be, by the ratification of the fifteenth 
article of amendment to the Constitution. 

In conclusion, I would ask patient forbearance one towards 
another throughout the land, and a determined eflbrt on the part 
of every citizen to do his share towards cementing a happy Union, 
and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf of 
this consummation.* 

Chief Justice Chase then stepped forward and pre- 
sented to the president a Bible, on which the latter 
reverently laid his hand. The chief justice adminis- 
tered to him the following oath : — 

" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of 
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, 
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

* A little incident at the inauguration attracted notice at the time. Mrs. 
Gr.iut and the ladies of her family were unable, from the crowd, to reach the 
seats reserved for them; but the president's little dauirhter made her way at 
last down to the desk, and stood by her father, gazing with child-like wonder at 
the strange scene. The contrast, on such an occasion, between the artless in- 
nocence of childhood and the warrior of a hundred battles was remarked 
by many. 



318 Life of Genekax, Grant. 

The president bent his head and kissed the sacred 
volume, — Ulysses S. Grant was president. The ac- 
clamations of the vast multitude, the booming of the 
cannon, announced that the man who had saved the 
Union in war had sworn to preserve it in peace. In- 
augural addresses had almost invariably been confined 
to the declaration of principles and sentiments. Pres- 
ident Grant surprised every one by avoiding " glitter- 
ing generalities," and dealing with measures. He 
urged the payment of the national debt in gold, except 
where it was otherwise expressly stipulated in the 
contract ; he declared his determination to meet all 
questions arising out of the rebellion without preju- 
dice, hate, or sectional pride, and in his desire that 
the freedmen may be empowered to protect them- 
selves by the ballot, he recommended the ratification 
of the fifteenth article of amendment to the Consti- 
tution. 

He organized his cabinet by appointing Elihu B. 
Washburne, Secretary of State ; Alexander T. Stewart, 
Secretary of the Treasury ; A. E. Borie, Secretary of 
tlie Navy ; E. R. Hoar, Attorney General ; J. D. Cox, 
Secretary of the Interior ; and J. A. J. Creswell, Post- 
master General. Mr. Washburne and Mr. Stewart 
soon after resigned ; their places were filled respec- 
tively by Hamilton Fish and George S. Boutwell. 
General J. A. Rawlins was made Secretary of War. 
He nominated William T. Sherman, Lieutenant Gen- 
eral, to the post of Genend of the Armies, vacated 
by himself, and Major General P. H. Sheridan to be 
Lieutenant General, in place of General Sherman. 
The second day after his inauguration he restored 



His Admlntsteation. 319 

General Sheridan to the mihtary command at New- 
Orleans, from which he had been displaced by Mr. 
Johnson, appointed General Terry to Georgia, and 
General Reynolds to Texas. 

The mere announcement of these appointments 
gave the country generally, and especially loyal men 
at the North, confidence that tumult and violence in 
the rebel states would be no longer tolerated. At the 
same time the nomination of General Longstreet, who 
had been one of the most distinguished of the rebel 
generals, to be Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans, 
gave assurance that the president desired to inaugu- 
rate an era of good feehng, and as far as was in his 
power to " clasp hands across the bloody chasm " 
with former enemies. This nomination was at first 
criticised by some ; but it was ascertained that Gener- 
al Longstreet, immediately after Lee's surrender, ac- 
cepted the results of the war, and gave his influence 
steadily and cordially in favor of the poUcy of recon- 
struction. 

An act was at once passed to strengthen the pubhc 
credit, declaring that the faith of the United States is 
solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its equiv- 
alent,, of the national debt. This law, following the 
Inaugural Address, assured the world that the United 
States were able and determined to paj^ its debts hon- 
estly, and to the uttermost farthing. The effect was 
seen at once in the appreciation of the government 
bonds throughout the world. On the 27th of Febru- 
ary, 1869, the fifteenth amendment was passed by 
Congress, as follows : — 

" The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not 



320 Life of General Grant. 

be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state, on ac- 
count of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Con- 
gress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation." 

This amendment was ratified by twenty-nine states, 
being the requisite three fourths. President Grant set 
forth the nature and great importance of the event in 
a special message to Congress, in which he said, that 
a measure which makes at once four million people 
voters who were heretofore declared by the liighest 
tribunal in the land not citizens of the United Stutes, 
nor ehgible to become so (with the assertion that " at 
the time of the Declaration of Independence the opin- 
ion was fixed and universal in the civihzed portion of 
the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well 
as in politics, that black men had no rights which the 
white man was bound to respect "), is indeed a measure 
of grander importance than any other one act of the 
kind from the foundation of our free government to 
the present day. 

Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived 
directly from the people, must depend mainly upon 
their intelligence, patriotism, and industry. He called 
the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised 
race to the importance of their striving in every honor- 
able manner to make themselves worthy of their new 
privilege. To the race more favored heretofore by 
our laws he would say, Withhold no legal privilege of 
advancement to the new citizen. The framers of our 
Constitution firmly believed that our republican gov- 
ernment could not cndiu-e without intelligence and 
education generally diffused among the people. The 



His AD]vnNiSTRATioN. 321' 

"Father of his Country," in his Farewell Address, uses 
this language : — 

"Promote, then, as a matter of primary importance, institutions 
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the struc- 
ture of the government gives force to public opinion, it is essential 
that public opinion should be enlightened." 

In his first Annual Message to Congress the same 
views are forcibly presented, and are again urged in 
his eighth message. 

President Grant repeated that the adoption of the 
fifteenth amendment to the Constitution completes the 
greatest civil change, and constitutes the most impor- 
tant event that has occurred since the nation came into 
life. The change will be beneficial in proportion to 
the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations 
of Washington. If these recommendations were im- 
portant then, with a population of but a few millions, 
how much more important now, with a population of 
forty millions, and increasing in a rapid ratio I He 
therefore called upon Congress to take all the means 
within their constitutional powers to promote and 
encourage popular education throughout the coun- 
try, and upon the people everywhere to see to it that 
all who possess and exercise political rights shall have 
the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will 
make their share in the government a blessing, and 
not a danger. By such means only can the benefits 
contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution 
be secured. 

Thus, in the fullness of time, justice had come to the 
long-suffering bondmen. The race which Abraham 
21 



322 Lite of General Grant. 

Lincoln emancipated General Grant defended, and 
he now, as president, proclaimed invested with the 
solemn rights of citizenship. In one decade, a race 
emancipated, and a race enfranchised ! When has the 
world beheld such an event? A great chapter in 
human history more pathetic than any epic, how hap- 
pily concluded ! 

The result of the presidental election in New York 
city, in 1868, convinced the country generally that 
additional means were required to secure the purity 
of elections. It was felt that if a faction in any city 
could, by fraudulent returns, give the electoral vote 
of a state to one candidate or another, such action, in 
a closely-contested election, might eventually cause a 
revolution. The nation would never consent to re- 
ceive a president at the dictation of "a ring." Such 
fraud strikes at the very life of the republic. Accord- 
ingly, May 31, 1870, an act was passed to enforce 
the right of the citizens of the United States to vote, 
and providing penalties for bribing, threats, interfer- 
ence with, or intimidation of voters. This act was 
amended in February, 1871, by irajwsing penalties for 
illegal registration of votes, for false swearing, and 
providing that all votes for representatives to Con- 
gress shall be by written or printed ballot only. 

Congress having passed a law declaring eight hours 
a day's work for all laborers, mechanics, and workmen 
in the employ of the government, the president, to 
prevent all dispute concerning its construction, issued 
a proclamation on the 19th of May, 18G9, directing 
that no reduction shall be made in the wages paid 
by the jjoverument by the day to the laboring men in 



His Adjiinisteatiox. 323 

its employ on account of such reduction of the hours 
of labor. 

General Grant's experience on the frontier, as an 
army officer, had afforded him peculiar opportunities 
for observing Indian life and character. He earnest- 
ly desired to inaugurate a new and more humane 
policy. From the foundation of the government to the 
present time the management of the original inhabit- 
ants of this continent, the Indians, has been a subject 
of embarrassment and expense, and has been attended 
with continuous robberies, murders, and wars. From 
his own experience upon the frontiers, he declared he 
could not hold either legislation or the conduct of the 
whites who come most in contact with the Indian, 
blameless for these hostilities. He said, — 

" I have attempted a new policy towards these wards of the 
nation (they cannot be regarded in any other light than wards) 
with fair results, so far as tried, and which. I hope, will he attended 
ultimately with great success. The Society of Friends is well known 
as having succeeded in living in peace with the Indians in the early 
settlement of Pennsylvania, while their white neighbors, of other 
sects, in other sections were constantly embroiled. They were also 
known for their opposition to all strife, violence, and war, and are 
generally noted for their strict integrity and fair dealings. These 
considerations induced me to give the management of a few reserva- 
tions of Indians to them, and to throw the burden of the selection 
of agents upon the Society itself. The result has proved most 
satisfactory." 

The policy of the administration has aimed to ac- 
complish two objects — to locate the Indians upon 
fixed reservations, so that the western settlers may 
be freed from the terrors of wandering hostile tribes, 
and an earnest effort for their education and civiliza- 



324 Life of General Grant. 

tion. The president accordingly appointed a commis- 
sion of philanthropic citizens, who have a supervisory 
and visitatorial duty in regard to Indian affairs. They 
are directed by the president to examine all accounts 
of the Indian Bureau, to scrutinize the purchase of 
goods, inspect the tribes on their reservations, and 
examine all Indian agencies. The number of Indians 
witliin the jurisdiction of the United States is three 
hundred and twenty-one thousand. 

The president has repeatedly commended to Con- 
gress the subject of education as of great interest to 
the success of our republican institutions, happiness, 
and grandeur as a nation, expressing the hope that the 
time-honored and beneficial policy of setting aside 
certain sections of public land for educational pur- 
poses in the new states should be continued, that 
educational interests may well be served by the grant 
of the proceeds of the public lands. 

These suggestions regarding the educational inter- 
ests were admirably embodied in a bill introduced by 
Hon. G. F. Hoar, of Massachusetts. Under the direc- 
tion of the Freedmen's Bureau nearly five millions 
and a half of dollars have been expended for the 
maintenance of schools and the purchase and erection 
of school-houses. Under the policy of reconstruction 
a free school system has been engrafted upon the 
poUty of the Southern States, and hundreds of thou- 
sands of children are now receiving the blessings of 
education, without which no repuljlic can live. 

The president has repeatedly urged upon Congress 
the importance of a reform in the civil service of the 
country. He said, — 



His Administration. 325 

"Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your at- 
tention to one abuse of long standing, which I would like to see 
remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the 
country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure 
of office of clerks and employes who do not require • the advice and 
consent of the Senate ' to make their appointments complete. I 
■would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all 
appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the 
executive and heads of departments as that of appointments ; nor 
is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on senators 
and representatives as that of finding places for constituents. The 
present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit 
men, for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil 
service of the government will be hailed with approval by the whole 
people of the United States." 

As might be expected, the president has taken spe- 
cial interest in all matters relating to the payment of 
pensions to the soldiers of the Union armies. The sum 
of thirty-six millions of dollars annually is paid in pen- 
sions ; the payments are now made quarterly instead of 
semiannually, and twenty per cent, has been added 
to the pensions of those who have lost a limb or have 
received an equivalent disalnlity. 

The destruction of our ships by rebel cruisers, and 
the substitution generally of iron ships propelled by 
steam, in place of wooden ships propelled by sails, 
have nearly destroyed American ocean commerce. 
Our foreign commerce in American ships has dimin- 
ished from seventy-one per cent., in 1860, to less than 
thirty-eight per cent, in 1871. 

In his message to Congress the president has repeat- 
edly called attention to the loss of our commerce and 
the best means for its revival, among which are the 
development of the trade with China and Japan. He 
says, — 



326 Life of Gejteral, Graijt. 

" It is a national humiliation that we are now compelled to pay 
from twenty to thirty million dollars annually (exclusive of pas- 
sage money, which we should share with vessels of other nations) 
to foreigners for doing the work which should be done by American 
vessels — American built, American owned, and American manned. 
This is a direct drain upon the resources of the country of just so 
much money ; equal to casting it into the sea, so far as this nation 
is concerned. 

" A nation of the vast and ever-increasing interior resources of 
the United States, extending, as it does, from one to the other of the 
great oceans of the world, with an industrious, intelligent, energetic 
population, must one day possess its full share of the commerce of 
these oceans, no matter what the cost. Delay will oidy increase 
this cost, and enhance the difficulty of attaining the result. 

" I therefore put in an earnest plea for early action on this mat- 
ter, in a way to secure the desired increase of American commerce. 
I regard it of such grave importance, afl'ecling every interest of the 
country to so great an extent, that any method which will gain the 
end will secure a rich national blessing. Building ships and navi- 
gating them utilize vast capital at home ; it employs thousands of 
workmen in their construction and manning ; it creates a home 
market for the products of the form and the shop ; it diminishes the 
balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and 
passage-money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy 
upon the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war." 

At the same time he urges the increase of cheap 
transportation between the agricultural states of the 
west and the Atlantic seaboard as a subject of na- 
tional importance. 

The manufacturing interests of the country, AvhiLli 
formerly, from causes connected with the slave labor, 
were the objects of sectional jealousy and ever-chan- 
ging legislation, have been treated in a comprchent^ive 
spirit, dictated by the sint,er(>st friendship for the 
worldng men of America. He says, — 



His Ad:mixistration. 327 

" Our manufactures are increasing with wonderful rapidity under 
the encouragement which they now receive. With the improve- 
tnenl.s in machinery ah-eady effected, and still increasing, causing 
machinery to take the place of skilled labor to a large extent, our 
imports of many articles must fall off largely within a few years. 
Fortunately, too, manufactures are not confined to a few localities, 
as formerly, and it is to be hoped will become more and more dif- 
fused, making the interest in them equal in all sections. They 
give employment and support to hundreds of thousands of people 
at home, and retain with us the means which otherwise would 
be shipped abroad. The extension of railroads in Europe and the 
East is bringing into competition with our agricultural products like 
products of other countries. Self-interest, if not self-preservation, 
therefore, dictates caution against disturbing any industrial interest 
of the country." 

The same friendliness to the sons of toil is evinced 
in recommendations concerning the public lands. 
President Grant says, — 

" The opinion that the public lands should be- regarded chiefly as 
a source of revenue is no longer maintained. The rapid settlement 
and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of 
more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale 
of them would produce. The remarkable growth and prosperity of 
our new states and territories attest the wisdom of the legislation 
which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on 
terms within the reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers 
and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the founda- 
tion of new commonwealths, renders a signal service to his country, 
and is entitled to its special favor and protection. These laws 
secure that object and largely promote the general welfare. They 
should, therefore, be cherished as a permanent feature of our 
land system. 

" I renew my recommendation that the public lands be regard d 
as a heritage to our children, to be disposed of only as required for 
occupation and to actual settlers. 

" The true prosperity and greatness of a nation is to be found in 
the elevation and education of its laborers." 



328 Life of General Grant. 

"In war," said Wellington, "it is the last guinea 
that wins." One of the greatest problems during the 
rebellion was to furnish the means to carry on the con- 
test, and since its termination to provide for the 
gradual discharge of the debt and the payment of the 
interest. 

The debt of the United States March 1, 1869, de- 
ducting cash in the treasury, was two thousand five 
hundred and twenty-five millions four hundred and 
sixty-three thousand two hundred and sixty dollars. 
It had been decreased September 1, 1872, three hun- 
dred and forty-eight millions one hundred and forty- 
one thousand two hundred and thirty-nine dollars. 
The decrease in annual interest to be paid has been 
twenty-three millions one hundred and ninety-one 
thousand three hundred and sixty-five dollars. Mean- 
while, since the war, laws have been repealed which 
called for the collection of three hundred millions of 
taxes annually. Duties have been removed from tea 
and coffee, articles of necessity, and articles which 
enter into the manufactures of the country, and are 
mainly confined to liquors, tobacco, banks, bankers, 
and such sources of revenue as least affect the masses 
of the country. As a result of this policy, the govern- 
ment has been enabled to redeem two hundred mil- 
lions of six per cent, bonds, and borrow in their stead, 
in the money centres of the world, two hundred mil- 
lions at five per cent, interest. This reduction of in- 
terest affects not only the interest account of the 
government, but by fixing a standard of interest at a 
low rate, enables every one to borrow money for busi- 
ness purposes at less cost. It is the declared purpose 



His AD:\irNisTRATioN. 329 

of the Treasury Department still further to replace 
the six per cent, bonds, by bonds at four and a half 
and four per cent. Such a result in the manage- 
ment of the finances may well challenge admiration 
and inspire confidence. 

In May, 1870, the president transmitted a treaty to 
the Senate for ratification looking to the acquisition of 
the island of San Domingo, as desirable on account of 
its geographical position. He said, — 

" It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea 
and the isthmus transit of commerce. It possesses the 
richest soil, best and most capacious harbors, most sal- 
ubrious climate, and the most valuable products of the 
forest, mine, and soil, of any of the West India 
islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build 
up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude, 
which will go far towards restoring to us our lost 
merchant marine." 

The proposal gave rise to an animated discussion 
and much diversity of opinion. A commission was 
appointed to visit San Domingo, who reported in fa- 
vor of the acquisition, but their arguments failed to 
convince the Senate of the expediency of the measure 
at that time. The revolution in Cuba created great 
interest in the United States, and naturally aroused! 
strong sympathy for the struggling Cubans. President 
Grant, however, without regard to his private feelings, 
adhered strictly, at the risk of censure, to the policy 
of neutrality, and of abstaining from all entangling 
alliances, which has descended from the administra- 
tion of Washington. 

In 1870, the Dominion authorities revoked the 



830 Life of General Grant. 

system of fishing licenses, and proliibited United 
States fishing vessels from entering any harbor in the 
provinces to leave fish in bond, or even to procure 
supplies. The president regarded this action as in- 
tended to compel the negotiation of a reciprocity 
treaty. He said, — 

" Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be 
made by the Canadian authorities in the coming sea- 
son to repeat their unneighborly acts towards our 
fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the exec- 
utive the power to suspend, by proclamation, the 
operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods, 
wares, and merchandise, in bond, across the territory 
of the United States to Canada ; and further, should 
such an extreme measure become necessary, to suspend 
the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the 
Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters 
of the United States. 

" A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested 
on the part of Canada, in the maintenance of a claim 
of right to exclude the citizens of the United States 
from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This river 
constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight 
states, with an aggregate population of about 17,G00- 
000 inhabitants, and with an aggregate tonnage of 
661,867 tons, upon the waters which discharge into it. 
The foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is 
open to British comjjctition, and the major part of it is 
done on British bottoms. If the American seamen be 
excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean, the 
monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports 
with the Atlantic would be in foreign hands, their 



His Admlnistration. 331 

vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to 
our lake po"ts, which would be denied to American 
vessels on similar voyages. To state such a proposi- 
tion is to refute its justice." 

President Grant's administration has the high honor 
of settling by peaceful negotiation Avith Great Britain, 
a dispute of long standing, caused by the Alabama 
claims, and which has caused intense feeling on the 
part of the American people. One treaty on the sub- 
ject had been negotiated under Mr. Johnson's admin- 
istration, which failed of ratification by the Senate. 
The whole question was felt to be, from peculiar 
causes, one of great importance, delicacy, and diffi- 
culty. In January, 1871, the British minister at Wash- 
ington suggested a reference of the question regard- 
ing the fisheries to a joint commission. The president 
responded with a suggestion that the Alabama claims 
be also referred ; and that the removal of the differ- 
ences which arose during the rebellion are essential to 
the restoration of cordial and amicable relations be- 
tween the two governments. This proposition was 
assented to, and the president nominated as commis- 
sioners, on the part of the United States, Hon. Ham- 
ilton Fish, Hon. Samuel Nelson, Hon. Robert C. 
Schenck, Hon. E. R. Hoar, Hon. George H. Wil- 
liams. The English government appointed as commis- 
sioners, Earl de Grey, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 
Sir Edward' Thornton, Sir John Alexander McDonald, 
and Professor Montague Bernard. The commission- 
ers first assembled in Washington, February 27, and 
on the 8th of May signed a treaty, expressing the 
regret of the British government at the escape and 



332 Life of General Grant. 

depredations of the rebel cruisers, and by which the 
ALibama claims were referred to a tribunal of arbitra- 
tion, to be composed of five arbitrators. One to be 
appointed by the president, one l:»y the queen of Great 
Britain, one by the emperor of Brazil, one by the 
king of Italy, one by the president of the Swiss Con- 
federation. On the 22d of June, Mr. Schenck writes 
from London to Secretary Fish, as follows : — 

" I have the satisfaction to inform you that, having 
produced and exchanged powers from our respective 
governments, the formal exchange of ratifications 
took pjace, as agreed between Lord Granville and 
myself, on Saturday, the 17th, at a quarter past two 
o'clock, P. M., at the Foreign Office. I note the 
exact time and place, as marking an interesting and 
momentous point in the history of the two countries 
and their governments." 

In August, Mr. Charles Francis Adams was ap- 
pointed arbitrator on the part of the United States, 
Sir Alexander Cockburn on the part of England, Count 
Sclopis by Italy, D. Itajuba by Brazil, J. Staempfli by 
Switzerland. The aibitrators assembled at Geneva 
during the summer of 1S72, and as the result of their 
deliberations, awarded America damages to the amount 
of nearly sixteen millions of dollars. The success of 
this treaty is one of the highest triumphs of peace and 
international law in the annals of modern civilization. 
It is an example to all nations, and heralds the day 
when national disputes shall be submitted to peaceful 
arbitration, and wars shall be no more. In the dis- 
tant future it may rival the splendors of military 
glory. The Hon. Mr. Boutwell states that when the 



His Administration. 333 

unwritten history of the treaty is known, its success 
will be seen to have been largely owing to the per- 
sonal tact, and skill, and wisdom of President Grant. 

In 1871 the extraordinary condition of the Southern 
States attracted the special attention of Congress. It 
appeared that organized bands of desperate and law- 
less men, mainly composed of soldiers of the late rebel 
armies, armed, disciplined, and disguised, and bound 
by oaths, had by violence subverted all civil author- 
ity in large portions of the states lately in insurrec- 
tion. These bands, known as the Ku-Klux Klan, pre- 
tended at first to be the ghosts of the rebel dead, who 
went forth at midnight to punish those who had been 
disloyal to the " Lost Cause." They murdered, robbed, 
plundered, whipped, and scourged the defenceless vic- 
tims of their hate, and spread terror over vast regions 
of country. If any attempt was made to punish these 
crimss, witnesses, jurymen, counsel, and judges would 
be visited at night, and vengeance dealt out according 
to the decrees of the secret conclave. Senator Sher- 
man said, " In all the record of human crime, — and 
God knows it is full, — he knew not where there was 
an organization against which humanity revolts more 
than it does against this." In March, the president 
sent a special message to Congress, asking for legisla- 
tion to uphold the laws. The whole subject was in- 
vestigated. In North Carolina a large number of 
persons were brought before the courts, tried, con- 
victed, and punished. The energetic and determined 
course of the government arrested a conspiracy which, 
in some states, threatened at one time to reorganize 
the rebellion. 



834 Life of Geneeal Grant. 

On the 6th of June, 1872, at the National Repub- 
lican Convention, hekl at Philadelphia, where all the 
states and territories of the Union were fully repre- 
sented, General Grant was unanimously renominated 
for President, amid the greatest enthusiasm. The 
Convention adopted the following 

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES. 

" The National Republican Party of the United States, as- 
sembled in National Convention in the city of Philadel- 
phia, on the 5th and 6th days of June, 1872, again 
declares its history and announces its position upon the 
questions before the country : — 

^'^ First. During eleven years of supremacy it has ac- 
cepted \vitl> grand courage the solemn duties of the time. 
It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated four mil- 
li(ms of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and 
established universal suffrage exhibiting unparalleled mag- 
naniniity. It criminally punished no man for political 
offences, and warmly welcomed all who proved their loy- 
alty by obeying the laws and dealing justly with their 
nei'^hbors. It has steailily decreased with a firm hand the 
resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a wise and 
humane policy towards the Indians. 

The Pacific Railroad, and similar vast enterprises, have 
been generally ended, and successfully conducted; the pub- 
lic lands freely given to actual settlers ; immigration pro- 
tected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of 
naturalized citizens' rights secured from European powers ; 
a uniform national currency has been provided ; repudia- 
tion frowned down ; the national credit sustained, under 



His Ad:\unist ration. 335 

the most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated 
at lower rates; the revenues have been carefully collected 
and honestly applied ; despite the annual large reduction 
of the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced 
during General Grant's presidency at the rate of a hun- 
dred millions a year. 

Great financial crises have been avoided, and peace and 
plenty prevail throughout the land ; menacing foreign diffi- 
culties have been peacefully and honorably composed, and 
the honor and power of the nation kept in high respect 
throughout the world ; the glorious record of the past is 
the party's best pUdge for the future. We believe 
the people will not intrust the government to any party 
or combination of men com])Osed chiefly of those who have 
resisted every step of this beneficial progress. 

Second. Complete liberty and exact equality in the en- 
joyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be 
established and effectually maintained throughout the 
Union by efl[icient and appropriate State and Federal legis- 
lation. NL'ither the law nor its administration should 
admit of any discriminations in respect of citizens by rea- 
son of race, creed, or color, or previous condition of ser- 
vitude. 

Third. The recent amendments to the National Con- 
stitution should be cordially sustained because they are 
right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and should 
be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate 
legislation, the enforcement of wlj^ch can safely be intrust- 
ed only to the party that secured those amendments. 

Fourth. The National Government should seek to 
maintain honorable peace with all nations, protecting its 
citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all people who 
strive for greater liberty. 

Fifth. Any system of the civil service under which the 



336 



Lite of General Grant. 



suborrlinate positions of the government are considered 
rewards for mere party zeal is fatally deteriorating, and we 
therefore favor a reform of the system by laws which shall 
abolisli the evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency, 
and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions, 
without practically creating a life tenure of office. 

Sixth. We are op})osed to further grants of the public 
lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that a 
national domain be set apart for the people. 

Seventh. 'I'he annual revenue, after paying the current 
debts, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction 
of the principal, and the revenue, except so much as may 
be derived from a tax upon tobacco and liquors, be raised 
by duties upon importations, the duties of which should be 
so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages to 
labor, and promote the industry, prosperity, and growth of 
the whole country. 

Eighth. We hold in undying honor the soldiers and 
sailors whose valor saved the Union. Their pensions are 
a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans 
of those who died for their country are entitled to the 
care of a generous and grateful people. We favor such 
additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the 
government to all our soldiers and sailors who were hon- 
orably discharged, and who in the line of duty became 
disabled, without regard to length of service or the cause 
of such discharge. 

Ninth. The doctrinewof Great Britain and other Euro- 
pean powers concerning allegiance, "once a subject always 
a subject," having at last, through the efforts of the Repub- 
lican jmrty, been abandoned, and the American idea of the 
individual's right to transfer his allegiance having been 
accepted by Euroj)ean nations, it is the duty of our gov- 
ernment to guard with zealous care the rights of our 



His Administration. 337 

adopted citizens against the assutn]ition of unauthorized 
claims by their former governments ; and we urge the con- 
tinual careful encouragement and protection of voluntary 
immigration. 

Tenth. . The franking privilege ought to be abolished, 
and the way prepared for a speedy reduction in the rate 
of postage. 

Eleventh. Among the questions which press for atten- 
tion is that which concerns the relations of capital and. 
labor, and the Republican party recognize the duty of so 
shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the 
amplest field for capital, and for labor the creator of capi- 
tal, the largest opportunities, and a just share of mutual 
profits of these two great servants of civilization. 

Twelfth. We hold that Congress and the President 
have only fulfilled an imperative duty in their measures 
for the suppression of violent and treasonable organizations 
in certain lately rebellious regions, and for the protection 
of the ballot box; and, therefore, they are entitled to the 
thanks of the nation. 

Thirteenth. We denounce the repudiation of the public 
debt in any form or disguise, as a national crime. We 
witness with pride the reduction of the principal of the 
debt and of the rates of interest upon the balance, and con- 
fidently expect that our excellent national currency will 
be pei'fected by a speedy resumption of specie payments. 

Fourteenth. The Republican party is mindful of its 
obligations to the loyal women of America for their noble 
devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to 
wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction, and 
the honest demands of any class of citizens tor additional 
rights should be treated with respectful consideration. 

Fifteenth. We heartily approve the action of Congress 
in extending amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and re- 
22 



338 Life of General Grant. 

joice in the growth of peace and fraternal feeling through- 
out the laml. 

Sixteenth. The Republican party proposes to respect 
the rights reserved by the people to themselves as carefully 
as the powers delegated by them to the State and to the 
Federal Government. It disapproves of the resort to un- 
constitutional laws for the purpose of removing evils by 
interfering with rights not surrendered by the people to 
either the State or National Government. 

Seventeenth. We believe that the modest patriotism, 
the earnest purpose, the sound judgment, the political wis- 
dom, the incorruptible integrity, and the illustrious services 
of Ulysses S. Grant have commended him to the hearts 
of the American people, and with him at our head we 
start to-day upon a new march to victory." 

On the 10th of June, Hon. Thomas Settle, the 
president, with the vice-presidents of the Convention, 
informed him of his nomination. He replied in the 
following frank and manly letter : — 

"Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, •\ 
June 10, 1872. 5 

'•''Hon. TJiomas Settle., President of the National Repub- 
lican Convention., Paul Strobach, Elisha Baxter., C. 
A. Sargent., and other Vice-Presidents : 
" Gentlemen, — Your letter of this date, advising 
me of the action of the convention held in Philadel- 
phia, Penn., on the 5th and 6th of this month, and of 
my unanimous nomination for the Presidency by it, is 
received. 

" I accept the nomination, and through you return 
my heartfelt thanks to your constituents, for this mark 



His Adthinisteation. 339 

of tlieir confidence and support. If elected in Novem- 
ber, and protected by a kind Providence in health and 
strength to perform the high trust conferred, I prom- 
ise the same zeal and devotion to the good of the 
whole people for the future of my official life as shown 
in the past. Past experience may guide me in avoid- 
ing mistakes inevitable with novices in all professions 
and all occupations. 

" When relieved from the responsibilities of my pres- 
ent trust by the election of a successor, whether it be 
at the end of this term or the next, I hope to leave to 
him as executive, a country at peace within its own 
borders, at peace with outside nations, Avith an estab- 
lished credit at home and abroad, and without embar- 
rassing questions to threaten its future prosperity. 

" With the expression of a desire to see a speedy 
healing of all the bitterness between sections, parties, 
or races of citizens, and the time when the title of citi- 
zen carries with it all the protection and privileges to 
the humblest that it does to the most, exalted, I sub- 
scribe myself, 

" Very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant." 

President Grant's administration has preserved or- 
der at home, and peace with foreign nations ; it has 
established equal rights for all throughout the land ; 
it has reduced the burdens of taxation three hun- 
dred millions a year ; paid nearly three hundred and 
forty-nine millions of the public debt ; refunded two 
hundred millions at a lower rate of interest ; organ- 



340 



Lite of General Grant. 



ized schools for the freedmen, diffusing the blessings 
of education to the ignorant and lowl}^ ; made voters 
of liberated slaves ; it has enacted laws to secure 
the purity of the ballot, and enforce the right of the 
citizen everywhere to vote; it has protected, with 
friendly care, the rights of labor ; it has dealt both 
justice and mercy to the recently convicted men at 
the South, who conspired against law and order ; it 
has treated the friendless Indians with honesty and 
humanity ; it has removed all cause of war with Eng- 
land for her hostile action during the rebellion ; it has 
obtained expressions of regret for her conduct from 
the proudest nation on the globe, and the payment of 
nearly sixteen millions of dollars for her depredations 
on our commerce ; it has illumined history by a suc- 
cessful effort to substitute Peace for War in the ad- 
justment of national differences ; it has gladly dis- 
pensed the nation's munificence to the soldiers and 
sailors of the war for the Union, their widows and 
orphans, — honoring both the living and the dead ; 
and in magnanimity it has granted amnesty to the 
thousands of its late enemies in rebellion. An admin- 
istration with such a record may safely trust itself to 
the justice and wisdom of a sagacious and earnest peo- 
ple, and the calm verdict of history. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



CONCLUSION. 



TO one who has read what Gen. Grant has done, lit- 
tle need be said as to what manner of man he 
is. The outline of his life shows his ability. A West- 
ern boy, with only common advantages, he enters West 
Point without preparatory study, attracts notice in the 
Mexican War, and soon after retires from the service. 
At the breaking-out of the Rebellion, he is an unknown 
man, in the leather business, in Galena, 111. He re- 
turns to the army as colonel of a regiment, and without 
friends or influence, in spite of all opposition, advances 
step by step on the path of victory, until the Govern- 
ment places in his hands the whole military power of 
the Union. Millions of men march at his bidding : 
hundreds of millions of treasure are expended by his 
order. He captures more prisoners than all other gen- 
erals, and ends a war of four years by the overthrow 
of the Rebellion, amid the grateful acclamations of his 
countrymen, and with a world-wide renown. Such 
achievements are not the result of luck or accident : 
they are but seldom seen in history. 

It is easy for military critics to say that this or that 
campaign by rule ought to have resulted differently. 
Some writers said that Badajos ought not to have been 

341 



342 Life of General Grant. 

taken, and others that Missionary Ridcre ought not 
to have been carried. But they ivere taken. Success 
in war is the real test of merit. Gen. Grant did not 
quote mihtary text-books as often as others ; but 
he did his work with a smaller staff, and secured larger 
results. 

Gen. Grant's honesty has never been questioned by 
any one. He had only a small property when the war 
began, and he had abundant opportunities of enricliing 
himself by what many would consider legitimate means ; 
but his bitterest opponent has never accused him of 
any " financial irregularity." Throughout the war, he 
steadily opposed all schemes for jobbing and speculation. 
He opposed the granting of permits to bring out cotton 
in his department as aiding the Rebellion, and destruc- 
tive of the public interests. When overruled, and asked 
to name the parties to whom the privilege should be 
granted, he answered immediately, " No ; I will not do 
it : for in a week it would be thought I was sharing the 
profits." 

His single purpose, pursued with a steadiness and 
tenacity which never once relaxed its constancy and 
power, was to defeat the rebel armies. To this he made 
all things subordinate, and in this he trinmphed. 

Gen. Grant is not what is usually termed a "■ brilliant 
genius ; " but he has that which in a ruler is fur 
better, — a sound judgment. It he does not startle by 
the coruscations, he does not disappoint by the eccen- 
tricities or infirmities of genius, so called. Almost all 
qualities are found in men oftener than good judg- 
ment ; because this requires the harmonious balance 
and play of all the other powers. A man may be 



Conclusion. 343 

learned, eloquent, an able general, a powerful writer, 
have great attainments in some specialty, and yet his 
usefulness be greatly impaired, if not destroyed, by an 
unsound judgment. One could apply to Grant the 
words of Tennyson on the Duke of Welhuofton, whom 
he in many respects resembles : — 

" The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute ; 
Whole in himself, a common good ; 
Om- greatest, yet with least pretence ; 
Great in council, and great in war ; 
Foremost captain of his time ; 
Rich in saving common sense ; 
And, as the greatest only are, 
In his simplicity sublime." 

Gen. Grant showed great ability in the war; but he 
has also shown wisdom, practical sagacity, and indepen- 
dence in the whirl of extraordinary, important, and 
exciting events which have occurred at Washington 
since the close of the war. Witness his insisting that 
the Government should not violate the parole it had 
accepted from Lee and his officers when this was sug- 
gested by President Johnson. When, also, he entered 
the War Department in August, 1867, on the with- 
drawal of Mr. Stanton, the act was misunderstood, and 
denounced by many influential journals in the country; 
but, conscious that he was doin^ his duty, nothino; was 
done, not a word was spoken or published by him, 
to stay the tempest of censure. When Congress 
assembl3d in the winter, the correspondence of Gen. 
Grant with the President and with Mr. Stanton 
appeared at the call of Congress, and his true position 
was made known. Gen. Grant's independence of fac- 



344 Life of General Grant. 

tlon and party has given him praise and censure, during 
the last two years, from leading journals in both political 
parties. No higher commendation will be given him 
from any source than has been accorded to him by the 
ablest of his political opponents.* 

Gen. Grant does not make speeches, and some con- 
sider oratory indispensable to statesmanship. But they 
demand entirely chfferent qualities. One requires tiie 
pov^er to persuade, the other the power to rule. The 
builder of sentences is often far other than the builder 
of States. A man may for years attack and defend 
various public measures with vast learning and dex- 
terity : he will overflow with language in showing 
" how not to do it ; " but is dumb when compelled to 
achieve an immediate, wise, and possible result. 

Men of executive power, in all countries, have often 
been preferred by the people to brilliant writers and 
speakers. Washington, Jackson, Taylor, and Harri- 
son were neither of them orators; but their contempo- 
raries and rivals were among the most eloquent men 
of whom America can boast. " It is the nature of 
party in England," says Lord John Russell, " to ask 
the assistance of men of genius, but to follow the guid- 
ance of men of character." " Caress literary men and 
philosophers," said Napoleon; "but do not take them 
into your counsels." 



* " Of the steadiness and stanchness of Gen. Grant's ])atriotism, or the 
upriglitncss and solidity of his character, no man in the country doubts, or 
affects to doubt. 

"On the score of loyalty and solid public services, no man in the country 
cua come into competition with this illustrious soldier." — Neio-l'ork World. 



Conclusion. 345 

But Gen. Grant acts eloquence: tlie brave words of 
other men he puts into deeds ; what orators s})lcndidly 
say, he silently does. " Speech is silver," says the prov- 
erb ; " but silence is golden." More public men have 
been injured by the fatal facility of fluency than by 
voiceless action. The highway of political life is marked 
by the gi'aves of eminent men whose epitaph might be 
written, " Died of a speech," or " Killed by writing a 
letter." 

But, when Gen. Grant has a meaning to express, he 
has no difficulty in making himself vinderstood. In 
war, in civil convulsions, there is little place for bookish 
pedantry or scholarly dandyism. State-papers are not 
prisms in which to look for the colors of the rainbow ; 
they are not word-pictures or literai'y mosaics in which 
each phrase is selected for its prettiness. The effect of a 
cannon-ball is determined, not by its brightness or polish, 
but by its weight of metal, by the power with which it 
moves, and by its reaching the mark. Gen. Grant's 
words have always reached the mark. " I recognize 
no Southern Confederacy." "I propose to move im- 
mediately on your works." " No terms but uncondi- 
tional surrender." "I shall have no policy to enforce 
against the will of the people." " Let us have peace." 
These are eloquent words, and easily understood. It is 
stated on the best authority,* that, throughout the war, 
Gen. Grant's despatches, orders, and letters of any im- 
portance, were written by him ; that his staflP never 
attempted to imitate or improve his style. And it is a 
striking fact, that, among all the writings on the war, the 
most concise and clearly written accounts of the cam- 

* Badeau. 



346 Life of General Grant. 

paigns are found in Gen. Grant's official reports. 
Where the narrative of other liistorians is obscure or 
confused, tlie official report is plain and intelligible. 

Gen. Grant's reticence has sometimes been imputed 
to a desire to conceal his opinions ; but silence is not 
duplicity. He does not resort to mental legerdemain. 
No man has been more frank in declaring his sentiments 
at proper times. He has not chosen to keep his opin- 
ions " on draught " for political tipplers to imbibe, and 
intoxicate themselves by quoting at pleasure ; and in 
this he has shown only prudence and sagacity. While 
not a member of Congress, holding no civil office, but 
at the head of the army, if he had entered the political 
tournament, and every morning fulminated his senti- 
ments on the agitating and exasperating questions of 
the day, he would have been accused of impertinence 
and presumption, or denounced as a " dictator." When 
an officious editor from the South-west called on him, 
and said, " General, our people want to run you for 
President," Grant changed the topic of conversation. 
But his visitor returned to the charge with the remark, 
" General, our people want to run you for President. 
What am I to say when I get home ? " — " Say nothing, 
sir. I want nothing said." 

When censured. Gen. Grant has at all times pre- 
ferred to be judged by his record, by his acts, rather 
than by any explanations or defence from his friends. 
He has been ably supported, and has evinced great 
discrimination and foresio;ht in the selection of his <xen- 
erals. He has put " the right man in the right place," 
regardless of personal friendships, or powerful influence 
in behalf of inferior men. 



Conclusion. 347 

It is to Le commended in Gen. Grant that he 
declares he shall have " no policy to enfoi'ce against 
the will of the people." Mr. Lincoln was reproached 
that he had " no policy ; " but it is one of his enduring 
titles to our gratitude. 

The mission of the reformer, and the duty of the 
chief magistrate of a republic, are not the same. The 
reformer, who goes far in advance of the people, may 
shape the opinions of the generation which is to follow 
him, not those of the generation in which he lives ; but 
this is not the work of the wise and successful magis- 
trate, who must move with the people, or not move at 
all. The office of President of the United States is 
not a hobby-horse : it was not created to afford any 
man an opportunity to experiment with his peculiar 
crotchets in morals or politics. An enthusiast might 
have issued the Emancipation Proclamation the morn- 
ing after the attack on Sumter, and, by so doing, 
destroyed all his influence for good during the fii'st 
year of the war, and secured a Congress eager to 
oppose his wishes -and defeat his plans. Time is an 
ally who will not be despised without taking fearful 
revenge. In a free government, the statute-book 
represents the will of the people ; and the Executive is 
under oath to " execute the laws," not nullify or evade 
them. What Sir Joshua Reynolds says of the domain 
of art is in a measure true in affairs of State, — 
" The present and future are rivals : he who solicits 
the one will be discountenanced by the other." 
Bulwer, in one of his essays, happily says, " Statesmen 
are valued while living, less according to the degree of 
their intellect than to its felicitous application to the 



348 Life op General Grant. 

public exigencies or the prevalent opinions. Time, 
like law, admits no excuse for the man who misunder- 
stands it." When a man has committed himself to 
great principles, it is useless for him to declare the 
particular measures by which he will accomplish the 
result. Mr. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Procla- 
mation ; but the convention which nominated him 
averred that the party would not interfere with slavery 
in the States. A nation hke ours cannot be adjusted 
to a fabled bed of Procrustes, and stretched in- 
shortened against its will to fit any man's policy. The 
true American doctrine was never better expressed 
than by Gen. Grant when he said, " This is a republic, 
where the will of the people is the law of the land." 

While opposing the Rebellion with his utmost vigor, 
Gen. Grant has exhibited towards its authors the great- 
est magnanimity in the hour of their defeat. In no 
single instance has he ever sought to humiliate or 
degrade the men of the South. His opposition to the 
Rebellion has been touched with no trace of })ersonal 
malice, or revenge toward individuals. He has admit- 
ted, as did all the world, the marvellous devotion of the 
South to the theories it had espoused. It is doubtful if 
any nation in history has ever shown more enthusi- 
asm, more heroism, more self-sacrifice, than the men, 
women, and children of the South to the worst cause 
for which a people ever fought and died. Without an 
anny or navy or treasury, they successfully defied 
and resisted the Government for years. Gen. Grant 
recognized the political heresies in which Southern men 
had been educated ; and, while defeating their insane 
purpose to destroy the Union, looked forward to the 



Conclusion. 349 

time, when, freed from the curse of slavery, and yield- 
ing obedience to the laws, they should share the duties 
and partake the blessings of a regenerated republic. 
These sentiments are admirably expressed by Gen. 
Grant in the closing words of his report, in July, 1865. 
Speaking of the armies of the East and West, hii 
says, "The splendid achievements of each have nation- 
ahzed our victories, removed all sectional jealousies 
(of which we have unfortunately experienced too 
much), and the cause of ci'imination and recrimination 
that might have followed had either section failed in 
its duty. All have a proud record ; and all sections can 
well congratulate themselves and each other for having 
done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law 
over every foot of territory belonging to the United 
States. Let them hope for perpetual peace andharino)ti/ 
with that enemy tvhose manhood, however mistaken the 
cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor.''' This 
is the utterance of a patriotism broad and wide as the 
nation itself. It will be fortunate for our country if it 
shall be guided by its wisdom and animated by its spirit. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF 

HON. PIENRY WILSOK 



HENRY WILSON was born in Farmington, 
Strafford County, New Hampsliire, February 16, 
1812. It was one of those dreary, sterile regions 
from which New England has sent forth so many 
poor boys to usefulness and bright renown. He was 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and his parents were among 
the poorest of those, in what was comparatively 
a wilderness, who struggled for a scanty subsistence 
with a rigorous climate and a barren and thankless 
soil. The family had contended with poverty for two 
generations, when Henry, the oldest of eight boys, 
went to serve an apprenticeship to a Mr. Knight, a 
farmer in the neighborhood, and his lot was fixed until 
he was twenty-one. 

Schools were few and poor. It was part of ^Ir. 
Knight's hard, close bargain that Henry should go to 
school one month out of twelve; but afterwards, 

350 



Biographical Sketch of Henry Wilson. 351 

being " a strict constructionist," he decided to give 
the boy his one month in odd days, weelvs apart, when 
there was no work to be done. One day, when 
going on an errand, a hidy noticed him, inquired his 
name, asked him if he could read, and struck by the 
lad's intelUgent face, promised to lend him a book if 
he would come to her house to obtain it. He went; 
she loaned him the New Testament, and offered him 
the use of her husband's library. Her husband was a 
lawyer in the vicinity, and the lady proved to be a 
Mrs. Eastman, a sister of Levi Woodbury, the gover- 
nor of New Hampshire. How little she dreamed of the 
effects of her promise ! " Some seeds fell on good 
ground, and brought forth fruit an hundred fold." 
Lamps and candles were luxuries, but before the boy 
was twenty-one he had read by moonlight, and the 
light of the fire in long evenings, nearly a thousand 
volumes, with numberless newspapers, and he read 
with a memory that relinquished nothing. His kind 
friends mimstered to his hunger for reading, and 
often predicted for him a brilliant future. It recalls 
the beautiful story which Curran, in his later years, 
used to relate to his guests at his table of his early 
benefactor and friend. " W^hen I was a poor boy," 
said he, " I was one day playing marbles in the vil- 
lage of Ballalley, when a stranger of remarkable ap- 
pearance spoke to me, inquired my name, subsequently 
taught me to read, sent me to school, sent me to the 
university, gave me my education ; then I lost sight 
of him for thuly-five years. I had attained some 
eminence at the bar, and had a seat in Parliament, 
when one day, returning home, I found an old gentle- 



352 Biographical Sketch of 

man seated familiarly in my drawing-room, his feet on 
the marble mantel, as if he was perfectly at home. He 
turned around — it was my old friend of Ballalley ! I 
rushed instinctively into his arms and burst into tears, 
and said, ' You are right, sir ! you are right ! The paint- 
ings are yours, the library is yours, the house is yours ; 
you gave me all, my friend and benefactor.' And 
that night I caught the tears glistening in his eye, 
when he saw poor little Jack Curran, the creature of 
his bounty, rise in the House of Commons to reply to 
a riofht honorable member." The friends of the 
poor New Hampshire boy never saw him in the Sen- 
ate of the United States, but Senator Wilson has 
never ceased to remember their early kindness with 
the tender est emotions of gratitude. The Testament 
given him he still preserves among the most valued 
souvenirs of his life. 

In 1833, when a little more than twenty-one years 
of age, young Wilson started, with his pack on his 
back, to walk from Farmington to Natick, Mass., in 
search of work, passing a mile out of his way to stand 
on Bunker Hill, .and in Boston, searching out the 
office of the North American Review, as the fountain 
of learning in the " Hub " of that day. In a speech 
at Great Falls, N. H., February 24, 1872, he thus 
alludes to these circumstances. 

" I see before mc men whom I recognize as toiling 
men ; men who have to support the wives of their 
bosoms and the children of their love by manual labor. 
I call the earnest attention of these men to tliis terrible 
struggle through which we have passed, and to what 
has been achieved for the poor toiling men of this 



Hon. Henky Wilson. 853 

country during the last twelve years. I feel that I 
have a right to speak for toiling men and to toiling 
men. I was born here in your county of Strafford. 
I was born in poverty : want sat by my cradle. I 
know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she 
has none to give. I left my home at ten years of age, 
and served an apprenticeship of eleven years, receiv- 
ing a month's schooling each year, and at the end of 
eleven years of hard work, a yoke of oxen and six 
sheep, which brought me eighty-four dollars. A dol- 
lar would cover every penny I spent from the time I 
was born until I was twenty-one years of age." 

In Natick he learned the trade of shoeraaking, and 
before long became a manufacturer. But self-culture 
was with him of supreme importance. He managed 
to secure board in a house where the town library 
was kept, and made diligent use of its books ; among 
which were Robertson's Charles V., Rollin's Ancient 
History, Life of Charles XH., and others of like 
character. He was active in forming a debating 
society among the young men of the town, and here, 
like many other self-made men, he found his college. 
He acquired self-possession in speaking, readiness in 
debate, and fluency. This year, 1835, was memorable 
in Anti-slavery annals, for the visit to America of 
George Thompson, of England, the Garrison mob in 
Boston, and the attempt in many parts of the country 
to put down the discussion of slavery by violence. 
Young Wilson entered ardently into the contest as an 
Abolitionist, and has continued in it ever since. Inl 
I806 he made his first visit to Washington, where his 
abhorrence of slavery was more than ever increased. 
23 



354 BiOGRAPHJC^u. Sketch of 

He thus refers to the impressions then made upon his 
mind, in a speech at Phikidelphia, in 18G3. 

" I saw slavery beneath the shadow of the flag that 
waves over the Capitol. I saw the slave-pen, and 
men, women, and children herded for the markets of 
the far South ; and at the table at which sat Senator 
Morris, of Ohio, then the only avowed champion of 
Freedom in the Senate of the United States, I ex- 
pressed my abhorrence of slavery and the slave-traffic 
in the capital of this democratic and Christian repub- 
lic. I was promptly told that ' Senator Morris might 
be protected in spealdng against slavery in the Senate ; 
but that I would not be protected in uttering such 
sentiments.' I left the capital of my country with 
the unalterable resolution to give all that I had, 
and all that I hoped to have, of power, to the cause 
of emancipation in America , and I have tried to 
make that resolution a living faith from that day 
to this." 

In 1887 occurred a great financial panic, which 
turned the attention of the people to questions of 
banking, of currency, of tariffs, and these subjects 
were still more widely discussed in the remarkable 
presidential campaign of 1840. ]\Ir. Wilson had 
diligently studied these topics, and took an active 
part with the Whig party. It was at this time, in 
sneering allusion to one of his speeches, that the Boston 
Post spoke of him as " the Natick Cobbler," — a title 
of which his friends were not ashamed, and have never 
allowed to be forgotten. He made sixty speeches 
during the campaign, and his fellow-townsmen elected 
him as a representative from Natick to the Massachu- 



Hon. Henry Wilson. 355 

setts legislature. He was placed upon the com- 
mittee on manufactures, and during the session made 
an elaborate report upon the causes of the financial 
distress of the country. In this paper, which was 
prepared with great ability, he combatted the free 
trade theories of the Democratic party, and contended 
for a tariff, with duties discriminating in favor of the 
labor of the country. 

In 1840 Mr. Wilson married Miss Harriet M. Howe, 
of Natick, a lady of winning manners, of genial 
temper, and rare beauty of character. She sympa- 
thized in her husband's pursuits, and aided and 
cheered him through his varied career. She was a 
warm-hearted, noble. Christian woman. 

In 1843 and 1844 he was elected to the State 
Senate. In 1845 Mr. Wilson was among the most 
earnest and active in opposition to the -annexation of 
Texas ; in connection with Charles Sumner, Charles 
F. Adams, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garri- 
son, E. R. Hoar, and others. In 1846 he was again 
elected to the House from Natick. In February 
Governor Briggs laid before the legislature some reso- 
lutions passed by the legislature of Georgia, concern- 
ing the action of Massachusetts on the subject of 
slavery. Mr. Wilson offered some resolutions, declar- 
ing " the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to 
the further extension of, and longer existence of, 
slavery in America, and the fixed determination to 
use all constitutional and legal means for its extinc- 
tion." In 1848 he was a delegate to the Whig 
National Convention, which nominated General Tay- 
lor for president, but with Charles Allen, he repu- 



356 Biographical Sketch of 

diated the nomination of a slaveholder without any 
declaration of principles, returned to Massachusetts, 
and was one of the most prominent in organizing the 
Free Soil party. 

At this time he purchased, and for two years 
edited the Boston Republican, the organ of the Free 
Soil party. In 1849 he was elected Chairman of the 
State Committee of the same party, in which position 
he labored for four years, and was principally instru- 
mental in organizing the famous coalition betAveen the 
Democrats and Free Soilers, which, after jNIr. Web- 
ster's speech on the seventh of March, 1850, over- 
threw the Whig party, and elected Charles Sumner 
to the United States Senate. In 1830 and 1851 Mr. 
Wilson was President of the Senate, and at the close 
of the session received a unanimous vote of thanks 
for the dignity, impartiality, and courtesy which he 
he had shown as a pre^^iding officer. 

In the autumn of 1850, Mr. Wilson visited Canada 
for the first time, i)assing a day or two in Montreal, 
and one day in Quebec. The writer, who was in 
his company, well remembers the thrilling interest 
with which he visited the Plains of Abraham, and 
explored the scenes forever associated with Wolfe's 
romantic descent of the St. Lawrence, and his memo- 
rable battle, and victory in the arms of death. 

During the session of 1852 he was especially in- 
fluential in procuring the passage of an Act calling 
a Convention the following year to amend the Con- 
stitution of the state. 

While President of the Senate, Mr. Wilson wel- 
comed Kossuth to the State, in a speech which was 



Hon. Henry Wilson. 357 

much admired. During the year 1852 he was made 
President of the National Convention of the Free 
Soil party, held at Pittsburg, and Chairman of the 
National Committee. He was, the same year, the 
Free Soil candidate for Congress in the 8th district, 
in which the majority against that party was upwards 
of 7500, but Mr. Wilson failed of an election by only 
93 votes. 

The Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted in 
1780, and revised in 1820. The Convention of 1853, 
like those which preceded it, was composed of the 
most eminent men in the state, in all the walks of 
life. Mr. Wilson was elected a member by both the 
towns of Natick and of Berlin. He resigned the seat 
for the latter, and appeared for Natick. The debates 
of the Convention show that he was second to no man 
in influence in that large and brilliant gathering of 
able men. He was at once appointed chairman of a 
large committee to report on the order of business, 
and took an active part in its debates, on all the most 
important topics which were presented. In a long 
debate of three days, on the militia, Mr. Wilson of- 
fered a resolve, " That no distinction shall ever be 
made, in the organization of the volunteer militia of 
this commonwealth, on account of color or race." 
The proposition provoked a spirited debate, and 
elicited a strong opposition from many of his political 
friends. No one foresaw that within less than ten 
years colored soldiers would be armed and sent out by 
thousands from the Capitol, in which the convention 
assembled, to fight for liberty and the Union. Mr. 
Wilson, as a boy, had read with deep interest the 



358 BlOGKAPITICAL SKETCH OF 

North American Review, and, on his first visit to 
Boston, as has been stated, regarded its office even 
as the headquarters of scholarship. The del)ate on 
the organization of Ihirvard CoUege showed that he 
had lost none of his interest in the Review, nor his 
friendship for Kossuth, since he administered to its 
editor, Francis Bowen, a ]irofessor in the college, a 
scathing and merciless rebuke. Mr. Bowen had been 
rejected as Professor of History, by the Board of 
Overseers, but had still been continued in office. INIr. 
Wilson charged him with "misquoting, misstating, 
and garbling historical authorities." 

In 1854, the repeal of the INIissouri Compromise, by 
which slavery had been prohibited north of 36° 30', 
was the signal for the breaking up of both the great 
political parties, — the AVhig and Democratic. The 
act outraged the moral sense of the North. Edward 
Everett was at that time in the United States Senate 
from Massachusetts. Mr. Everett was a man of ex- 
traordinary attainments ; he was an eloquent writer, a 
graceful speaker ; a man of spotless reputation and of 
refined and courtly manners. But he had no power 
of reading the popular heart, and of catching inspira- 
tion from its sentiments. When in Congress, he said, 
" Slavery, domestic slavery, say what men will, is a 
condition in life, as well as any other, to be justified 
by religion, morality, and international law." Indeed, 
he went so far in subserviency to Southern sentiment, 
that he brought on himself the withering sarcasm of 
John Randolph. And Mr. CambreUng, a Democratic 
member of Congress from New York, in a speech of 
surpassing eloquence, said, in reply, that he Ustened 



Hon. Hexiiy ^Vilson. 359 

to sucli sentiments with amazement, and " lamented, 
sincerely lamented, 

' That star-eyed Science had wandered there, 
To bi'ing us back the tidings of despair.' 

"If," said he, " in the anke of Gottingen I had 
imbibed such opinions, I would have buried them 
forever in the darkest recesses of my mind ; or if my 
zeal had been too ardent for my discretion, I would 
have followed the course of the dark rolling Danube, 
and crossing the Euxine, have laid my forehead upon 
the footstool of the sultan, and besought him to place 
his foot upon the neck of a recreant citizen of a recre- 
ant republic." When governor of the state, in 1836, 
Mr. Everett had intimated in his message to the legis- 
lature that anti-slavery discussion might be "prosecut- 
ed as a misdemeanor at common law." He was unfitted 
by his sympathies, by taste, and by temperament for 
the fierce conflicts of the Senate in the great struggle 
of slavery for national power. The attempt to repeal 
the Missouri Compromise roused the moral and reli- 
gious sentiment of the North, as it had not been 
moved for a generation. Three thousand clergymen 
united in a solemn remonstrance against the wrong. 
Mr. Everett had formerly been a clergyman, and the 
petition, one of the most grave and significant ever 
presented to Congress, was intrusted to him, feeling 
that at his hands it would receive eager and brave 
championship. But it was felt that in the debate 
which immediately ensued Mr. Everett was "brow- 
beaten" by Mr. Douglas and other pro-slavery lead- 
ers. When, in the opening of the French Revolu- 



3G0 Biographical Sketch of 

tion, Louis XVI. was awakened from his sleep by The 
Duke de Liancourt, and told that Paris was in insur- 
rection, and the Bastile taken, he murmured feebly, 
"It is a riot." "Sire," was the answer, "it is a 
revolution ! " Mr. Everett, and other public men 
of his class, totally failed, also, to comprehend the 
situation at this time. The repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise preceded by a few years the guns which 
opened on Fort Sumter, but it was also, for slavery, 
the beffinnins: of the end. It was not until the 
South had actually levied war upon the government, 
that he appreciated the crisis, and learned, in the 
words so happily applied by Governor Banks to Mr. 
Webster, that in the contests of men " concession 
does not always secure peace," — and with devoted 
patriotism, gave his pen, his voice, and his name to 
the support of the Union. 

In 1855 Henry Wilson was chosen to succeed Mr. 
Everett as United States Senator. Soon after he 
made a speech, urging the repeal of the Fugitive Slave 
law, and the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. In an address at Brattleboro', Vt., on the 
position and duty of the American party, he said, 
he had " no sympathy with that narrow, bigoted, 
intolerant spirit that would make war upon a race of 
men because they happened to be born in other lands, 
— a dastardly spirit, that would repel from our shores 
the men who sought homes here under our free insti- 
tutions. Such a spirit was anti-American, devilish : 
he loathed it from the bottom of his heart. " He 
knew there were men who called themselves Ameri- 
cans, who would abolish the naturalization laws alto- 



Hon. HenpvY Wilson. 361 

gether ; who woiild forever deny the right of suffrage 
to men for the fault of being born out of America. 
He had no sympathy, and he hoped the men of Ver- 
mont had no sympathy, with that chiss of men whose 
opinions were at war with the spirit of American in- 
stitutions and the hiws of humanity. Such anti- Amer- 
ican sentiments had brought dishonor upon the Amer- 
ican movement ; and unless they received the rebuke 
of the American party, they would defeat the real 
reforms contemplated, and cover the movement with 
dishonor." 

In 1856 Mr. Wilson attended the American Nation- 
al Convention, at Philadelphia, where a platform was 
adopted committing the party to the policy of slavery. 
Mr. Wilson opposed it in the most earnest manner, 
through a struggle of several days' continuance, and at 
its close said, " The adoption of the platform commits 
the American party unconditionally to the policy of 
slavery, — to the iron dominion of the black power. 
I tell you, sir, I tell this convention, that we cannot 
stand upon this platform in a single free state of the 
North. The people of the North will repudiate it, 
spurn it, spit upon it. For myself, sir, I here and 
now tell you to your faces that I will trample with 
disdain on your platform. I will not support it : I 
will support no man who stands upon it. Adopt that 
platform, and you array against you everything that 
is pure and holy, everything that has the elements of 
permanency in it, the noblest pulsations of the human 
heart, the holiest convictions of the human soul, the 
profoundest ideas of the human intellect, and the at- 
tributes of Almighty God." 



862 Biographical Sketch of 

In the contest for the admission of Kansas as a free 
state, both in the Senate and out, and in the Fremont 
campaign of 185G, Mr. Wilson worked with untiring 
energy and great abihty. 

On the 22d of May, 1856, soon after his masterly 
speech on the "Crime against Kansas," Charles Sum- 
ner was violently assaulted in the Senate Chamber, 
while writing at his desk, after the adjournment of 
the Senate, by P. S. Brooks, of South Carolina. He 
was supposed by the bystanders, at the time, to be 
dying, and was lifted out from his seat and placed on 
the floor of the chamber, in front of the clerk's desk. 
Mr. Wilson, who, at the time, was in the other wing 
of the Capitol, in the room of Mr. Speaker Banks, as 
soon as he learned of the assault, hurried to ]\Ir. Sum- 
ner, whom he found unconscious, and, with others, 
assisted him, after a time, to a carriage, and conveyed 
him home. On this ride, while supporting Mr. Sum- 
ner, the blood which had soaked his clothing still flow- 
ing from his head, Wilson determined to denounce, 
the next morning, in the Senate, the assault upon his 
colleague, and the outrage upon his state, in the lan- 
guage it deserved, let the consequences to himself be 
what they might. To refuse to fight a duel, if chal- 
lenged, but to speak out and hold his person sacred 
from all attacks, both in the Senate and elsewhere. 
He knew the atmosphere of Washington to be full of 
violence ; that Senator Foote, of Mississippi, had once 
drawn a revolver upon Mr. Benton in open session of 
the Senate, and he might well expect a like demon- 
stration against himself. A Massachusetts man in- 
formed the writer that he happened to be in Wash- 



Hon. JIenry Wilson. 3G3 

ington at the time, and expecting something to occur 
in the Senate concerning the assault, went up to the 
gallery of the Senate Chamber, early on the morning 
of May 23, before any one was in attendance, and by 
accident seated himself directly above the seat of Mr. 
Wilson. Mr. Wilson soon after came in alone, seated 
himself, took something from his breast, laid it in his 
desk, and commenced reading and answering his 
letters. It seemed as if the shoemaker had decided 
that if northern men were to be beaten with blud- 
geons in the Senate for uttering their sentiments, 
the hammering should not all be on one side. At 
the proper time he arose, and in a calm and fearless 
manner denounced the assault, as ''brutal, murder- 
ous, and cowardly." He was interrupted by cries of 
"order!" "order!" There was great excitement; 
threats of violence were heard. It was said he would 
" be challenged ; " he " would be shot in the street." 
Brooks sent him a challenge to fight. He at once de- 
spatched the following answer : — 

" Washington, May 29, half past ten o'clock. 

" Hon. p. S. Brooks. 

"Sir: Your note of the 27th inst. was placed in 
my hands by your friend General Lane at twenty 
minutes past ten o'clock to-day. 

" I characterized on the floor of the Senate the 
assault upon my colleague as brutal, murderous, and 
cowardly. I thought so then: I think so now. I 
have no qualifications whatever to make in regard to 
those words. 

"I have never entertained or expressed, in the 



364 Biographical Sketch of 

Senate or elsewhere, the idea of personal responsibili- 
ty in the sense of the duellist. 

" I have always regarded duelling as the lingering 
relic of a barbarous civilization, which the law of the 
country has branded as a crime. While, therefore, I 
religiously believe in the right of self-defence in its 
broadest sense, the law of my country and the mature 
conviction of my whole life alike forbid me to meet 
you for the purpose indicated in your letter. 
" Your obedient servant, 

" Henry Wilson." 

These manly words were universally indorsed at 
the North by fair men of all parties. And southern 
men believed that though not a duellist, he was not a 
safe man to attack. 

In 1858, Senator Hammond, of South Carolina, 
made his famous attack upon the free labor system of 
the North, declaring that " cotton was king," and 
characterized the laboring men of the free states as 
" mud-sills," and as " essentially slaves." It was for 
Mr. Wilson to reply to a speech like this, and he did, 
in one of the most effective addresses he ever made. 
In the course of it he said, — 

" The senator from South Carolina exclaims, ' The 
man who lives by daily labor, yoUr whole class of 
manual laborers, are essentially slaves : they feel 
galled by their degradation.' What a sentiment is 
this to hear uttered in the councils of this democratic 
republic ! The senator's political associates, who 
listen to these words wliich brand hundi-eds of thou- 
sands of the men they represent in the free states, and 



Hon. Heney Wilson. 365 

hundreds of their neighbors and personal friends as 
' slaves,' have found no words to repel or rebuke this 
language. This language of scorn and contempt is 
addressed to senators who were not nursed by a slave ; 
whose lot it was to toil with their own hands ; to eat 
bread earned, not by the sweat of another's brow, but 
hj their own. Sir, I am the son of a ' hireling manual 
laborer,' who, with the frosts of seventy winters on his 
brow, ' lives by daily labor.' I, too, have lived by 
daily labor ; I, too, have been a ' hireling manual 
laborer.' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow 
over the home of my childhood ; and Want was there 
sometimes, an unbidden guest. At the age of ten 
years, to aid him who gave me being in keeping the 
gaunt spectre from the hearth of the mother who bore 
me, I left the home in my boyhood, and went to earn 
my bread by ' daily labor.' Many a weary mile have 
I travelled 

' To beg a brother of tlie earth 
To give me leave to toil.' 

" Sir, I have toiled as ' a hireling manual laborer ' in 
the field and in the workshop ; and I tell the senator 
from South Carolina that I never ' felt galled by my 
degradation.' No, sir ; never ! " 

In a speech of much research, he urged the passage 
of -a bill to construct the Central Railroad to the 
Pacific. 

In 1860 he gave to the nomination of Mr. Lincoln a 
vigorous support, speaking in different states to large 
audiences, and always with marked effect. As soon as 
the election of Mr. Lincoln was known threats were 



866 BlOGRAPHIDAL SKETCH OF 

openly made by the South to dissolve the Union, and 
attempts were made to rob the country of the fruits of 
the victory by securing a surrender to shivery in ad- 
vance. Mr. Lincoln was beset to say that he would do 
this, or would not do that ; in a word, to commit him- 
self; to say something, in some way, to propitiate the 
slaveholders. But Mr. Lincoln maintained a dignified 
silence until the delivery of his Inaugural Address. 
An effort in the interests of slavery was made by a 
compromise, so called, offered by Mr. Crittenden of 
Kentucky. But the arrogance and aggression of the 
slave power was beyond compromise, and Mr. Wilson 
opposed the measure with great earnestness. While 
according to Mr. Crittenden pure motives and patri- 
otic intentions, he said, " the Senator has stood forth, 
day by day, not to sustain the Constitution, the Union, 
and the enforcement of the laws, not to rebuke sedi- 
tious words and treasonable acts, but to demand the 
iucorporation into the organic law of the nation an- 
repealable, degrading, and humiliating concessions to 
the dark spirit of slavery." Alluding to the charge 
that "Massachusetts hates the South,'' he said, "In 
the halls of Congress, in the public journals, before 
the people, everywhere, the Christian people of the 
North are accused of hatred towards their country- 
men of the South ; and these oft-repeated accusations 
have penetrated the cars and fired the hearts o£ the 
men of the South to madness. The peojile of Massa- 
chusetts, of New England, of the North, hate not 
their countrymen of the South. I know Massachu- 
setts; I know something of tiio sc^itiments aud feel- 
ings of her people. During the past fifteen years I 



Hon. Henry Wilson. 367 

have traversed every portion of the state, from the 
sands of the capes to the hills of Berkshire ; spoken 
in nearly every town ; sat at the tables and slept be- 
neath the roofs of her people. Around those tables and 
beneath those roofs I have heard prayers to Almighty 
God for blessings on slave and on master. From 
thousands of Christian homes in Massachusetts, New 
England, the North, tens of thousands of men and 
women daily implore God's blessing upon the whole 
country, — upon the poor slave and his proud mas- 
ter. Around the firesides of the liberty-loving, God- 
fearing families of Massachusetts, I have often heard 
the men, stigmatized as ' malignant, unrelenting ene- 
mies of the people of the South,' on their bended 
knees, with open Bible, implore the protection and 
blessing of Almighty God upon both master and 
slave, upon the people of the whole country." 

When Fort Sumter was attacked, he advised the 
president, as Chairman of the Committee on Military 
Affairs, to call for three hundred thousand instead of 
seventy-five thousand men, and to double the number 
apportioned to Massachusetts. His position at the 
head of this committee was one of the most important 
under the government, and he toiled in it with un- 
ceasing dihgence, great judgment and skill throughout 
the war. Few men in the country did more hard 
work during the rebellion in raising, equipping, and 
organizing the armies, in providing supplies, hospitals, 
and all the munitions of a great war, than was done 
by Henry Wilson. General Scott said, at the close of 
the extra session of Congress in 18G1, " Senator Wil- 
son had done more work in that short session than all 



368 Biographical Sketch of 

the chairmen of the military committees had done for 
the last twenty years." 

Among the measures subsequently urged by him 
was a bill providing for the appointment of persons to 
procure from volunteers their respective allotments of 
pay for their families ; a bill regulating courts martial 
in the army ; " a bill to provide for the better organi- 
zation of the signal department of the army;" a bill 
for the " appointment of sutlers in the volunteer ser- 
vice ; " a bill " to increase the efficiency of the medical 
department of the army; " a bill to facilitate the dis- 
charge of enlisted men for physical disability ; a joint 
resolution providing for " the presentation of medals of 
honor to the enlisted men of the army and volunteer 
forces who may distinguish themselves in battle ; " a 
bill " to amend the act calling forth the militia to ex- 
ecute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel inva- 
sions." This act authorized the drafting of negroes, 
and their regular enlistment as soldiers into the ser- 
vice of the United States. 

Mr. Wilson also introduced the bill into the 
Senate dismissing from the service officers guilty of 
surrendering fugitive slaves to their masters. After 
much discussion, it became a law, March 13, 18G2. A 
bill to abolish peonage in New Mexico, and a bill to 
abolish the black code in the District of Columbia. 

In December, 1861, he introduced a bill "for the 
release of certain persons held to service or labor 
[that is, for the abolition of slavery] in the District of 
Columbia." "If it shall become a law of the laud," 
said Mr. Wilson, " it will blot out slavery forever 
from the National Capital, and transform three thou- 



Hon. Henry Wilson. S69 

sand personal chattels into freemen." This bill en- 
countered fierce opposition, but was finally passed, 
and signed by President Lincoln, the 16th of April, 
1862. The freedmen commemorated the event by 
meetings in their churches for prayer and thanksgiving 
to God. No disasters depressed Mr. Wilson. After the 
reverses in Tennessee, and before Richmond, in 1862, 
he introduced a bill authorizing the president to call 
forth the mihtia of the country ; enrolling all able- 
bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five years ; to accept a hundred thousand volunteers 
as infantry for nine months, and volunteers for twelve 
months ; to fill up the old regiments ; also to establish 
army corps, and to receive into the army persons of 
Afi-ican descent, and providing that persons perform- 
ing such service shall be forever free, and also the 
mothers, wives, and children of all slaves of those who 
were engaged in the rebellion. General Palmer, com- 
manding the Union army in Kentucky, estimated 
that seventy-five thousand women and children were 
made free by this act. 

On the 9th of February, 1863, he introduced a bill, 
calling out the whole national forces. It provided 
that " all able-bodied male citizens in the United 
States (with certain exceptions) between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five shall constitute the national 
forces, and be liable to military duty at the call of the 
president." In 1864 he secured an enactment that 
every colored soldier, on being mustered into the 
service, should, by the authority of the government, 
be made forever free. This law emancipated more 



24 



370 Biographical Sketch of 

than twenty thousand slaves in the single state of 
Kentucky, according to the reports of General Palmer. 

Mr. Wilson gave to the service of the country an 
only child,* a young man of much promise, who com- 
manded as lieutenant-colonel in South Carolina and 
in Texas. At eighteen years of age, during the 
absence of the colonel, he had command of a thousand 
men for five months. Mr. Wilson bore a conspicuous 
part in all the legislation since the war for the pacifica- 
tion of the country. In 1871 Mr. Wilson visited 
Europe, studying the institutions, and mingling with 
the statesmen and scholars of the old world. In the 
session of Congress of 1872 Mr. Wilson took an 
active personal interest in the appointment of the 
commission to examine and report upon the labor of 
the country, and the relations of labor and capital. 
In June, 1872, he was nominated for Vice-President 
by the National Republican Convention. 

The limits of this sketch permit onl}^ a narration of 
the leading events of Mr. Wilson's life, with little or 
no comment. Indeed they need none. He has been 
active and zealous at all times in forwarding the 
principles of anti-slaver3^ He has made nearly four- 
teen hundred public speeches. But he has also, like 
Carnot, " organized victory." He has been an in- 
domitable worker. He has read the phases of public 
sentiment by intuition, and has acted with energy and 
advised with wisdom. The circumstances of Mr. 
Wilson's early life have given him always the deepest 
sympathy with the laboring men of the countr}^ — the 
sons of toil. His whole career, — his poverty in early 

• Lieutenant-colont'l Henry Hamilton Wilson. 



Hon. Henry Wilson. 371 

life, his struggles to educate himself, his triumph over 
all obstacles, the place he has obtained and long held 
among the public men of the country, his continuing 
poor when he might have become rich, all afford one 
of the most brilliant illustrations of the effects of free 
institutions which American biography can present to 
the world. 



NOTICES. 



The following are a few of the notices of this work 
which appeared when first published in 1868. 

From tfie New York Times. 
" It is written in a very interesting way ; and, in fact, of all the many attempts to 
write a personal and individual history of Grant— Grant (w a w«a« — this seems to 
have succeeded best." 

From the New York Tribune. 
"A spirited sketch of General Grant's military career and his personal character, 
and is admirably adapted for general circulation." 

From the Hon. Charles Sumner. 
"Not merely a Life of Grant, but an addition to literature." 

From General Badeau, of General Grant's Staff, and author of Military History of 
General Grant. 
" Mr. Phelps seems to have appreciated the points in General Grant's career which 
are most characteristic. I have seen no book of similar scope and aim which I like 
better." 

From General Bumside. 
" It cannot fail to do great good during the campaign, and besides will be an excel- 
lent book for general reading for all time. For one, I thank you for this most impor- 
tant work." 

From the Philadelphia Press. 
"The best campaign life of Grant we have seen." 

From the Hon. Wm. Claflin, Chairman of National Executive Committee. 
" It is admirable in design and execution. The friends of General Grant can do no 
better work than give the book the most extensive circulation. " 

From the Hon. E. D. Morgan, Chairman of Congressional Executive Committee. 
" So handsome a work must do great good in the campaign." 

From General John A . Logan, Commander qftJie A rmy of the Republic. 
" Written with interest and care, and very justly called the ' People's Edition.' It U 
destined to become a popular work, and I wish it great success." 



2 Notices. 

From Goverjwr Boutwell. 
" A graphic and truthful record of the great events of General Grant's career. I 
hope it will be circulated throughout the country." 

From the Hon. Ira Harris. 
*' I am charmed with the book. It is destined to become a standard biography." 

From Governor Fenton. 
" I do not see how the work could be better executed. I wish the book could find its 
way to all our voters." 

Frotii tlie Worcester Palladium, 
"It is peculiarly a book for the people — the mass of men who have not time to 
peruse more full and elaborate works." 

From the Christian Advocate, New York. 
" The work is evidently designed for use as a ' Campaign Document, ' though one 
would hardly suspect it from its contents or style." 

From the New York Commercial A dvertiser. 
" This work is exceedingly well done." 

From the A tnbassador. 
" A history of the salient events of the war. A book of enduring literary merit, and 
has evidently been prepared with a view to something more than ephemeral reading." 

From Senator SJiertnan. 
"Your narrative is the best argument for the election of Grant, and I hope it will be 
read by thousands before the election." 

From the Liberal Christian, New York. 
" It gives all that most men care to know, and is a book that will retain its interest 
long after the excitements of the political campaign are over." 

From the Watchman and Reflector. 
"Of the many lives of General Grant, the best adapted for popular use." 

From the Boston Transcript. 
"Deserves the largest possible circulation." 

From tJie Boston Traveller. 
" A more concise, straightforward, and comprehensive record of a man's story was 
never published, at least, not in our day." 



LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, ■ 

149 Washington Street, Boston. 



